Mystery
by EvilFaerie17
Summary: AU. Layla is sad in Hero classes, especially with that jerk Will Stronghold making her life miserable. Then she meets someone, interesting, to say the least. Why won't he leave her alone? Weird things begin to happen.. What is going on? *IMPORTANT NOTICE*
1. Who Are You?

**AN: **Hey, guys, it's me again! I have decided to write another story! Hope that you guys like it! Oh, and don't worry, I won't forget about An Interesting New Year; I have too much work for that one to just drop it.

Oh, and this story is _**AU**_. I don't want people telling me, "That's not right!" just because it isn't the same as in the movie. The ending of which irked me, by the way. My story is AU, meaning it only has the basics of the same qualities, such as names and powers and the school. Everything else is fair game.

**Disclaimer:** I don't own 'em. Never have, never will. Anything you don't recognize will now be considered mine! They have come from my mind.

Enjoy! Please **Read** **and** **Review**! (^_^)

* * *

***Chapter One***

**Who Are You?**

_Layla's POV_

_It is another normal day at Sky High. Well, that all depends on what you would consider to be normal. Usually, normal at this high school isn't what is normal for others simply because of the super powers the students and teachers possess. That's right; they all have super powers, ranging from the elements, to metals, to super strength, to flying. Yep, everybody here is special, even those who have no powers, like our bus driver, Ron Wilson. Here, just about everybody practically demands attention. Except for me, that is. I'm not that conceited._

_I'm sorry, I haven't introduced myself. My name is Layla Williams, and I attend Sky High, with a literal interpretation of its name. Seriously, it's a high school that floats hundreds of feet in the air._

_Don't get me wrong, I have powers too, but nobody here seems to appreciate them. Or me, for that matter. My power is over the earth. I can make plants grow, or trees sprout before my eyes, speeding up a process that would have taken a long time to do naturally. (Or attack someone with all sorts of greenery such as trees, plants, vines, you get the picture, but I won't get into that story now.)_

_Yes, I guess that I am somewhat special, but if I am so special, then why do I have the most rotten luck? I keep getting in trouble for reasons that are not my fault. Oh well, I guess that is my curse while I'm here. It seems fitting that I have one, since, well, my parents were the 'odd ducks' when they went here, just because they didn't want to conform to the stupid rules..._

_-sigh- _

_I guess that I need to get to class now, before I'm late and have to sit by the school jock and my used-to-be-somewhat-friend._

_How I dislike him now that he turned...too popular and jerkish, even to his childhood friends. Oh well, it's not like we were ever friends; really, we just knew each other since we lived in the same neighborhood. He turned all snooty in middle school. Oh well, I hope that I don't have to sit next to him today, I don't think that I could take it._

_Regular POV_

Layla Williams closed her locker and put her new green journal, which she had just been writing in, into her backpack, straightened out her deep green shirt and loose brown pants, tapped her boot-clad feet against the floor, and turned to go to class. No, wait. Let me rephrase that.

She _tried_ to leave to go to her classroom, but was stopped by a body in front of her. How could she have missed him? He was tall, around six feet tall to her respectable five-foot-six-inches, and had on that obnoxious red, white, and blue jacket that she had come to associate with 'jerk'. He was also wearing that smirk of his that practically screamed "I am the greatest. Bow down before me, pathetic weakling!" Okay, so it really screamed "I'm cooler than you" and not the other stuff, but she always felt a bit vindictive around him.

"Will Stronghold, what do you want?" she coolly said, not putting emotion into her normally happy voice.

He just smirked and stood in front of her with his arms crossed in front of his chest, effectively blocking her exit since she couldn't move even though he wasn't touching her or stopping her physically. She just couldn't.

"Well, Layla Williams," he teased since she used _his_ full name, "I wanted to know if you will please...move. You're in my way." He moved his hands in a shooing motion, but she stood her ground and put her hands on her hips.

"Normally, I am against all forms of violence, but you just bring out the worst in me. I am _not_ in the way of your locker because I know by the way all those nitwits giggle over you over _there._" She dryly replied as she pointed across the hall to the gaggle of female super-heroes that were giggling over with each other and pointing over to her.

Wait. They were pointing at her and laughing. Oh my. "What the hell are they laughing about? What are you doing over here anyways, Stronghold? I really need to get to class."

He made a dramatic sigh and looked at the ceiling, stuffing his hands into the pockets of his slightly baggy jeans.

"Layla, Layla, Layla," he tsked arrogantly as she rolled her eyes, "what do you mean? Can't I just walk up to a gir-"

Layla interrupted him because even though it was rude, she really needed to get to class. Not that she was happy at where she was going, mind you, as they had forbidden her to take Hero-Support once they figured out her power and how well she controlled it and how powerful she was with it just last year. She had managed to go a whole two years of high school before that incident happened.

Not that she meant for them to find out, seeing as how she _accidentally_ let some of it—okay almost all of it—out during the one and only real fight that she had gotten in with none other than the jerk in front of her in tenth grade, just last year, which she had gotten detention for both at school and at home... yikes. Mrs. Williams was a force to be reckoned with, not including the fact that she could talk to animals.

"No, you can't. Not when it's the one girl who wants nothing to do with you, okay?" she ended sarcastically with stony eyes as she shoved her way past him and walked to her class.

Will just looked at her in shock and slight amusement, as she left and passed the gaggle of giggling girls that were indeed at his locker who shot her glares for getting the privilege to talk to him and having the nerve to walk away.

"Oh, shut up, you moronic bimbos..." she whispered as she went past the stupid girls who were combining glares with whispers of their own. No, she was not very happy anymore.

* * *

Layla really disliked her Hero classes for many reasons.

One: she was in Hero classes instead of Hero Support with her best friends Magenta, Ethan, and Zach.

Two: she was in Hero classes with none other than Will Stupid Stronghold (she really believed he was conceited and arrogant and she hated those qualities).

Three: she was lonely. She felt like she didn't belong there. Nobody really talked to her. It was like nobody seemed to appreciate her, or even felt like wanting to get to know her.

Man, she needed a break.

She sat down at her desk and unzipped her backpack. She was digging through it when a shadow fell over her. She looked up in surprise and almost dropped her backpack. Good thing she had a good grip on it.

Standing over her was a boy—no, guy—that was just slightly glaring down at her. She hastily stood up and looked around a little bit and noticed that, for a rare time, nobody was there except for Layla and now this guy.

He was taller than her, and possibly even taller than Stronghold was, and if Layla had to guess, around six-foot-two or so. He had black hair with a couple of red streaks in the front and had a black leather jacket on. He was wearing a black shirt but the lettering was so faded that Layla couldn't make it out, with dark jeans that had a couple of chains on them. He was wearing black combat boots, she noted as she looked down.

He was looking at her intensely now. Almost as if she were a picture he was trying to memorize, or remember.

"Exc-" she started.

"Get out of my seat, Hippie." he interrupted rather rudely, still staring at her as if she were a specimen under the microscope and it was starting to freak her out a little bit.

She flushed at his blatant staring, "Excuse me? What did you...call...me?" she slowly traded her growing look of confusion to one of rage as she heard that name.

She looked at him with suspicion and anger prominent in her soft brown eyes. Nobody calls her that! The only one who did was her mother once when she was nine.

"Who are you?"

He just looked at her with those piercing black eyes and put his stuff in the desk beside hers and glared back into her brown ones.

"Who are _you_?"

She just looked at him and sat down when more people starting coming in a minute later and he followed her example.

She pulled out her journal.

* * *

_Okay, that was weird. Who is that guy? And why did he call me Hippie? Ugh, I just hope that he isn't another stupid jock like Stronghold over there...idiot._

_Oh well, I wonder who he is? He was looking at me really weird, like I was a subject in a science experiment. Hmm. Maybe I am. This is going to bug me until I find out..._

_But, who is he?_

_Who are you?_

* * *

**AN: **Okay, how was it? I know that Layla is basically OOC, but please deal with it, it goes with this story. And yes, Will is going to be a **bit** of a jerk. I don't really like the Will/Layla pairing, so guess what this isn't going to be? Hehe. I really have no problem with the boy himself.

Well, I know that it was short, but please review and tell me what you think because I will most likely only continue if I get a few reviews please! I really want to continue this story. It gets better so please give it a chance!

**_EDIT:_ 9/26/2011**


	2. What Do You Want?

**AN: **Hello wonderful readers of ff! I am back with a new chapter and I hope that you guys will like it. I'm sorry that this might have taken a while to come out but one of my best friends was going through a hard time and I had to be there for her. You know how friends are; we stick together through everything.

Enjoy this chapter and please Read and Review! **Please note that this story is AU and most things will be different, but the basics will be the same such as people, powers, and the school.**

**Disclaimer: **I do not own them because if I did, the movie would have ended with Warren/Layla as the pairing, not Will/Layla. Also, I would be very rich and wouldn't need to write a **fanfiction** about it. Hehe! Anyone you **do not** recognize is my own creation.

* * *

***Chapter Two***

**What Do You Want?**

Throughout her first period class, Layla kept shooting confused and angry glances at the dark haired boy who had tried to make her move seats (it didn't happen of course). She was still angry about the "Hippie" comment but her nonviolent outlook on life made her keep her calm and resist strangling him with vines, though deeply within herself she knew she could if she really wanted to.

She went back to her notes after another glance at the mystery boy, not really paying attention to Mr. Medulla as he lectured about something or other. It was about science, she knew that much. Instead, she was writing down random notes and doodling plants and other greenery in the margins of her notebook. They were actually very good drawings but she wasn't paying any real attention or focusing too much on them. Her thoughts were still occupied with _that guy_.

She lifted her head to sneak another peek at him. When her eyes reached his face, she noticed that he was staring at something he was writing on his desk. She continued to watch, trying to guess who the hell he was and what made him think that he could call her "Hippie". Suddenly, his eyes lifted and locked onto hers. She gasped a little and looked away and he smirked. He went back to the paper on his desk.

_How embarrassing! _She thought, _he probably thinks I was staring at him because I like him or something! Even though he is kinda cute—no! Don't think like that! _She shuddered a little bit in horror.

Suddenly she was snapped out of her inner ramblings by the impact of a folded piece of paper hitting her desk...after it hit her head. _Ow, dang folder piece of paper!_

She rubbed her head where it was hit and glared down at the offending item sitting innocently on her desk. _Wait a minute, it's a note. From who? That guy?_

She carefully opened the note after making sure that Mr. Medulla hadn't noticed and began to read the scrawl called handwriting.

_**Hey Hippie,**_

_**I know I'm good-looking but stop staring at me.**_

She flushed slightly. She knew he would think that! _Stupid person I don't know!_

_**Take a picture already; it lasts longer. Just know one thing: this is the last time you get my seat Hippie. Enjoy it while it lasts. Oh, and Medulla's coming over to you right now. Have fun!**_

And suddenly, the note erupted in flames and she was left holding ashes which were soon gone as well. "What?" she muttered in shock.

Suddenly, a large shadow covered her and she closed her eyes in anger and shock.

"Miss Williams." Stated the male voice of her all too maddening Mad Science professor.

Slowly, she opened her eyes and turned her head in the direction of his voice.

"Excuse me, sir?" she answered, blushing meekly.

There stood the professor, Mr. Medulla, big head and all. And he was staring down at her with something akin to exasperation and irritation at having to interrupt his lesson.

"What do you think you are doing? Drawing plants? This is not art class. Have you been listening to me at all? And where is that note something or other that you were reading?" he demanded, pointing at her notebook.

Layla, embarrassed but stubborn, kept her head high and her gaze somewhat steady as she processed what he asked. "Uh, of course I was listening... Why would you think otherwise? Besides the...plant drawings..." she tried to look convincing as Medulla stared her down.

He looked very skeptical. He didn't believe a word she said, but to continue the ruse... "Oh really? Is that so? Well, being the good student that you are, what was the last thing that I said?"

The class was waiting. Mr. Medulla was waiting. Layla looked around the room discreetly, hoping to get some idea of what he had been talking about. "Um," she started. By the look of her classmates, who seemed to be enjoying her predicament, she wasn't getting any help from them. Then she glanced at the mystery boy in the seat across from her and her mouth set into a thin line.

He was smirking at her! The nerve of him!

Then, she was hit with inspiration. She would talk her way out of this! She only hoped that it worked.

"I'm sorry Mr. Medulla, but I cannot answer that," she began.

"Aha! I kne—" he interrupted.

"Excuse me sir, but I'm not finished." She cut in, shocking Medulla into silence. "I cannot answer that, because I don't believe that you can single me out for doing nothing wrong for what you think you know, when there are people who never listen in this class every day. It is neither fair nor right to subjugate one single person to ridicule and punishment one day when nothing is done to any others like, oh, I don't know, Will Stronghold? Or Lash? Or Bob? Or anyone else for that matter?"

Mr. Medulla was trying to come up with an answer while the people mentioned looked either offended or angry...or sleeping in Bob's case. "Well, Miss Williams, I do not know what you are referring to for they are always good students, generally." He added under his breath. "So I have to ask you to answer the question now or I will be forced to send you to see Principal Powers for not paying attention in class."

"I'm sorry sir, but I feel that I am in the right when you take the time to interrogate me and leave others out. For example, why don't you go and take a look over at their notebooks and see if they were paying attention to you as much as you would want?"

With that, Mr. Medulla actually turned around to look at the other students' notebooks without argument. Layla could be pretty persuasive when need be.

When he turned, Layla quickly looked at the board and smiled a little bit.

Medulla was trying to look at the notebook of the person who sat diagonally from Layla when he realized—amidst the person's ramblings on how they learned better without notes (which was a pretty pathetic excuse)—that he was taking instructions from his pupil. _Wait a minute,_ he thought, _hey! _He turned back around to see his pupil looking up at him with satisfaction.

"Do not distract me, Miss Williams! But just the fact that you managed to do so impresses me. Good work. But I ask once again that you answer now!" he sputtered.

"Of course Mr. Medulla. I only hope that you see the folly of singling out one person for doing nothing wrong instead of singling out the people who are really in the wrong. That is called favoritism, which teachers are not supposed to employ over their students, lest it make the other students feel ignored and rejected, which then makes the students very sad that they are not included."

He rolled his eyes and looked at her expectantly. The class looked like they were about to laugh. This Layla girl tricked Medulla. That was pretty funny to them. Also, she was holding her own. Nice.

Just then the bell rang, signaling the end of first period. "You were telling us about gamma rays and how to create and use them." And with that, she gathered her notebook and her bag, got up, and walked out of the room with everyone else.

Mystery boy following shortly after her, taking his time in getting out of the room. She was persuasive, smart, and devious, all packed into her slight frame. It was going to be tough, but he just had to get her to _remember_.

Medulla scratched his head. "That girl is very frustrating when she goes on with her 'everyone is equal' speech. But, she is interesting, I'll give her that." he went back to his desk to prepare for his second class.

* * *

Layla walked to her locker and collapsed against it. She couldn't believe that it had worked! She thought that Medulla's big head would be able to see through her plan to distract him, but apparently she was better at persuasion than she thought.

She stood up straight and began twisting her locker combination to the correct numbers. She sighed when she opened it and reached for her bag to get out the next notebooks she would need.

"Hey," said a male voice right behind her.

_Oh god, please not him. What does he want with me now?_ She cursed in her head as she continued to get to her bag, not bothering to turn around to face him. "What do you want, Stronghold? I am going to be late to my next class, which, thankfully, doesn't have you in it." She was annoyed.

Will smirked at her back as he leaned over the lockers beside hers. It was so much fun to tease this one! "Well, Williams, I just wanted to congratulate you on getting out of that mess you were in during Mad Science. What were you reading anyway?"

"I have no idea what you are talking about, I was paying attention to the lecture," she deadpanned as she grabbed her math book and shoved it into her bag in place of her science book. "Now if you'll excuse me, move." And she shoved her way past him for the second time that day.

Once again, let me rephrase that. She _tried_ to walk stiffly past him for the second time that day but he caught her, again.

"I just wanted to ask one more question, Layla."

She stopped and sighed exasperatedly. "What?" she spoke through clenched teeth. She really wanted to get away from his ego-maniacally enlarged head!

"Why were you in Warren's desk?"

"Who's Warren?" the name made her mind click.

"The guy sitting next to you. You were in his desk," he answered somewhat smugly. "I'm surprised he didn't roast you for it."

She thought for a second. _Warren..._ "Roast..? What is his power?"

Now he smirked. "Fire. See ya," and with that he left to walk somewhere else, leaving her to her thoughts.

_Stupid Will Stronghold. I remember when we were younger and were somewhat friends. Before he turned all ego-centric. _Finally coming out of her stupor she looked around, not hearing the usual hallway noise. She gasped. There wasn't anybody here! She hurriedly looked at her watch and groaned. The bell was going to ring any second now! She sprinted towards the math hall, hoping that she wouldn't be late.

_Damn you, Stronghold! _She thought as she raced to her classroom and into her seat just before the bell rang.

"So good of you to join us, Miss Williams. Now class, get out your homework from last night and pass it to the front..." her teacher Mr. Meadles said after the bell rang.

Layla passed her homework to the person in front of her and started to listen to the teacher but her mind began to wander after she realized what they were studying.

"Now class, what is the measurement of..." the teacher's voice started to fade from her thoughts as she thought back to a time when she was younger and she was happy.

_**Flashback**_

_It was the first day of sixth grade and she was nervous. _What if no one likes me this year? s_he worried herself. Of course, being eleven years old, she was stubborn, self-righteous, and a bit shy._

"_Don't worry, Layla," soothed her mother, "everything will be alright! You're going to middle school, and you'll meet a bunch of new people who are as nice and as friendly as you are, my little flower."_

_Layla grinned up at her mother, the person she loved more than anyone other than her father. "Just remember one thing, dear. Never use violence on anybody except in self-defense and do not use your powers to harm anyone except in self-defense! Don't use them at all, in fact. You are going to a normal school, remember that. Do you understand?" Layla nodded the affirmative. "Good." Her mother gave her a kiss on the forehead and shooed her out the door to walk to the bus to Melton Middle School._

_On her way, she met up with some neighbor kids, all walking to the bus stop. She saw Will Stronghold walking alone, wearing red, white, and blue. She went over to walk with him._

"_Hi, Will! Are you going to Melton Middle School, too?" she asked brightly._

"_Yeah. Why are you still wearing all green?" he replied back, looking at her clothes._

_She looked down at herself and didn't see anything wrong. She was wearing her favorite green top with the lemons on the front, forest green pants, and soft brown shoes._

"_Why are you still wearing all red, white, and blue?" she shot back, slightly hurt._

"_I'm sorry, I wasn't making fun! Honest!" he stammered._

_She laughed and smiled. "That's okay. Race you to the bus stop!"_

_**End flashback**_

Layla kind of missed joking around with the young version of Will. She hated him now, and it wasn't going to change. Not after he became such a jerk to his friends and his neighbors like her.

_**Flashback**_

_It was eighth grade and Layla was happy at Melton. She walked to her locker and saw three familiar faces waiting for her._

"_Magenta! Ethan! Zach! Hey, what's up?" greeted Layla to her friends of over two years._

"_Nothing much, but Zach here has a funny tale, don't you?" grinned her best friend, Magenta._

_Zach blushed and glared at the girl. "No, I don't!" Layla looked at his blushing face, then at Magenta's smirking one._

"_I don't want to know, guys, how about we leave it at that?" she laughed._

"_Aw, man!" pouted Magenta as her fun was ruined._

"_Oh well," stated Ethan as he pushed up his glasses._

"Thank you,"_ Zach mouthed over to her as they began to walk to lunch. She just smiled and nodded._

_They told each other the other parts of their day and continued to laugh and have fun through the cafeteria as they searched for their table._

_It was Layla's favorite table. It was by the window and was somewhat in the corner, away from the busy scene of the cafeteria. Her friends wanted to know why she picked that table the first time they all met each other and she told them she liked the sun and the space._

_She couldn't tell them about her powers, now could she? She was debating on whether or not to tell them since they were her best friends and she wanted to share it with them, but she remembered that they were in a normal middle school where nobody was supposed to have powers. So she didn't._

"_So, Layla, did you get the answer to question number six on the history homework? I think I got the wrong—" started Zach when the cafeteria doors banged open._

_They all looked over to where the noise was and they all frowned. There was pretty-boy Will Stronghold, with his little entourage of popular kids/bullies._

"_I can't believe that he's the same guy that I used to play with," stated Layla._

"_I still can't believe that you knew him and were friends with him long enough to play with him." Ethan answered._

"_We were little kids and we were not friends. We just lived on the same street, that's all." Her eyes hardened. "I can't believe that he turned into such a jerk."_

"_I can," stated Magenta and Zach in unison._

"_Just because his parents are hot-shot real-estate agents he thinks that he rules the school! He thinks he's so popular."_

"_Well, he is, no matter how much those words burn my throat." Magenta grimaced._

_Just then, as if he heard them talking about him, Will Stronghold turned and looked right at their table. He grinned and started to walk over to them. The table's group groaned._

"_What is he doing?"_

_Will finished his stroll and with the entire room watching, leaned on the table and smirked. "What—" he turned around slowly, noticing his audience wasn't looking at him but at _their_ audience. "Continue your lunches now," he smiled._

_With that, the room burst into normal activity._

"_Now, that's better. So as I was saying, what are you doing over here in a corner?"_

_Layla narrowed her eyes but otherwise didn't show any emotion but a small frown. "What are you doing here Will? Leave us alone."_

"_Yeah, we're trying to eat and after looking at your face long enough, I don't think I'll be able to," added Magenta, ever the tough girl._

_He narrowed his own eyes but ignored her. He looked at Layla and spoke again. "So. Why are you in a corner, _Layla?_" he asked, stressing that he was speaking only to her._

"_We want to be. Now leave us alone, _Stronghold_, you don't want to be over here any more than we want you to be here. So do us all a favor and leave. No jerks allowed," she smiled sweetly._

"_Whatever. You guys will never be good enough to hang with my group, and here I was going to give you a chance to hang out with me, the coolest guy in school," he preened._

"_Well good, because guess what?" started Zach._

"_We don't care!" shouted all four friends as they started to laugh._

_Will had a small blush coming on but he controlled it fast and looked over at his old "friend". "I'm the best. They can't be me. I hope you know what you're doing, Williams."_

_She gave him one of her special glares and he flinched slightly. Her special glares were scary! "Goodbye!" and waved him away from her table._

_He turned around and walked back to his group, all the while acting so stuck up it was like watching a peacock strut his feathers._

"_He is such a jerk. I can't believe he said that about you guys!"_

_Her three best friends shared a glance, and then stared at her. "We can," and laughed, Layla joining in as they continued to eat their lunches and talk about the day, all but completely forgetting about what happened._

I love these guys!_ Layla thought to herself as she laughed at another one of Zach's jokes._

_**End flashback**_

She came out of her thoughts to the sound of Mr. Meadles going on about homework.

"Now for homework, class, I want you to do page 167, numbers 2-40 evens." The class groaned. They couldn't copy out of the back of their book now! Layla didn't care; she was good at math.

She put her barely used notebook back into her bag and waited for the bell to ring, which it did not a minute later.

She had walked out of the room before she noticed that her name was being called. She walked back into the nearly empty room. "Yes, Mr. Meadles?" she questioned.

He looked at her through his glasses and smiled. "Miss Williams, I am looking for the best students in this class do to a special tutoring program for those not as fluent. From the look of your latest test scores, and all of your scores in general for this class, I really think you would make a good choice as a tutor!"

She gaped. He wanted her as a tutor?

"Um, I-I would be honored to be a tutor!" she answered brightly. "When do I begin?"

Mr. Meadles smiled bigger. "Every Saturday morning, from 8:30 to 12:30 with different pupils every hour. How does that sound?"

She smiled brighter. "That sounds perfect, sir!"

* * *

Back at her locker, she was still smiling. She couldn't believe that she was asked to be a tutor for math! She actually didn't really like math, but she was really good at it so she figured why not share the knowledge?

She opened her locker and put her math stuff back in, taking out her gym bag. She was on her way to lunch, but rather than risk being late to gym by having to stop at her locker, she would just take it with her.

Humming happily, she closed her locker door and turned to her right.

She jumped a foot in the air when she saw who was there.

Holding a hand over her chest, she exclaimed, "What do you think you are doing?" then she got a hold of herself and calmed down (slightly).

Mystery boy, er, Warren, was leaning on the lockers next to hers. Layla hadn't even heard him come up.

"What do you want, Warren, is it?" she asked suspiciously. "I'm not in your seat anymore," she looked at him pointedly.

His eyes flamed for a second as she said his name. "So you know me?" he asked. If she didn't know better, she would have said he sounded and looked just a bit hopeful, but that couldn't be right. He was menacing.

She rolled her eyes. _Oh, no, _she thought, _not another Will Stronghold!_ "No. Should I?" the faint glimmer in his eye went away so quickly she wondered if she had imagined it.

"Oh," _dammit, I thought I was already making progress. _"So then how'd you know my name?"

"Stronghold told me."

His eyes seemed interested at that tidbit of information. "Really? I got the impression that you didn't like him at all in class when you mentioned him to the teacher during your little speech."

"Oh, I don't. I hate him, he just stopped me in the hall..." she paused. "Wait a minute! You! You nearly got me in trouble with Medulla!" she shrieked, pointing a finger at his chest.

He glared at her finger, which she hurriedly put down but continued glaring.

"That was funny. You were in my seat, I had to retaliate. Now leave me alone," he ended abruptly and walked away.

_Huh? He was the one who scared me! He walked up to me! Damn that guy!_

And on that note, she slammed her locker shut, all happiness from the tutoring opportunity completely gone, and stalked off to lunch where she would finally see her friends.

_Guys, I can't wait to see you! I have so much to tell you!_

She didn't realize that quite a few people were watching her bounce off to lunch, namely Stronghold, Warren, and strangely Lash, each for their own reasons.

_She is going to regret everything that she's said to me since middle school one day. Until then, I'll have some fun messing with her,_ thought Will.

_That girl! She is the one who nearly got me expelled last year! I am so gonna get that little bitch back one day. But until then, I guess that I can just watch her and mess with her head a bit, _promised Lash.

_Layla. Layla Williams. I have got to make her remember everything. At least before those two get her... _thought Warren as he looked over at the other two as they watched Layla disappear into the cafeteria, humming to herself once again.

_That little girl is going to be trouble, I already know it. She was back then, and if she's anything like she was back then now, then I might have a little problem._

* * *

**AN: **Okay, I'm sorry about the wait, but like I said in the above AN, I had to deal with some issues. I hope that you all liked this chapter! Please give me some feedback, I would really appreciate it!

How about I make a deal with you all? I get at **least** 5 reviews for this chapter, and the next one comes out quicker than this one did. Deal?

Well, thanks for reading! I stayed home from school cause I was sick and I still wrote it for you all!

ttfn!

EvilFaerie17

_**EDIT:**_** 9/26/2011**


	3. Tired of this Game

**AN:** Heheh, um, I'm so totally sorry about this very late update! My internet completely screwed up after I finished writing this chapter and I couldn't update it. I know, I know, I could have taken it out and put it on another computer or re-typed it but there are two problems with that: 1) It wouldn't let me get into the chapter least of all let me take it out. 2) I don't write out my chapters first...I just type them and update. The below **AN** was written before everything crashed.

**AN: **Hello! True to my word, I waited to get at least 5 reviews and I'm happy to say that it only took a day to get my requested reviews! Oh, and yes, that last paragraph in the last chapter probably made a few (or more) people question my sanity, but it was intentional!

Anyways, here's the next chapter! Please read and review because I'd really like feedback, good or not. –smiles- **Please note that this is AU and most things **_**will**_** be different except people, powers, and the school. Anything else is fair game.**

**Disclaimer: **Nope, they are not mine. That makes me sad. I really want them! Especially Warren...

* * *

***Chapter Three***

**Tired of this Game**

Warren Peace growled as he sat at lunch by himself. Not that anybody actually tried to go sit with him or anything, he was quite scary, to people who knew him for a long time or only a day. He was sitting at a table near the back of the cafeteria, with his elbows on the tabletop and his hands covering half of his face in a brooding posture, his eyes smoldering as he thought.

_Why can't she remember? I thought it was gonna be easy, but I guess it's not. Why couldn't we have all just been normal kids?_

He was jarred out of his thoughts by the sound of something hitting the table... after it smacked him on the forehead. _…Someone is gonna die._

He rubbed his forehead for a second as he picked up the box-folded note. He turned it over to find the name _Warren_ on the front. Okay, so if it wasn't already obvious that the stupid note was for him, the name clinched it.

Who would send him a note? Give you one guess.

He opened it up with a little difficulty, since the way it was folded was confusing to him, and read the neat, loopy, cursive handwriting that obviously belonged to a female.

_**Hey Warren,**_

_**What do you want from me? If anything, I should be asking **_**you**_** stuff! (I'm frowning right now).—**_

He chuckled at that. She was so ridiculous.

_**Just do me a favor. Leave me alone, because you make me frustrated and I'm a peace-loving girl who doesn't prefer violence but you make me want to hurt someone by your stupid cheekiness!**_

_**P.S. My name is Layla, NOT Hippie!**_

He burned the note into ashes and blew them away once he finished reading the note. "Sorry, Layla, but that I just can't do. No matter what either of us wants to do," he whispered.

He looked up and noticed that Layla was looking at him again. She was staring at his face, probably looking for a sign that her message got through. He smirked and shook his head.

_Let the games begin._

* * *

Layla groaned when she saw Warren's reaction to the note that she had thrown across to hit him. She wasn't sure that it would hit the mark, but was extremely happy when it did. She even felt a measure of pride that she was able to smack his forehead just like he had done to her.

"What's wrong, Layla?"

Layla turned back to her friends Magenta, Ethan, and Zach. "Oh, nothing's wrong. I just wish that you all were in my classes or I was transferred back over to Hero-Support!" she lied.

Ethan shook his head. "That's impossible, Layla. You have a great power and you know how to wield it. You don't belong in sidekick classes with us."

Magenta stared at her. Layla was her best friend and she'd known her for five years. She knew when she was lying and this was one of those times. "Layla, are you sure?" she stared into her friend's brown eyes and saw the returning stare wasn't as confident as the other girl would have wished.

"Hey, Zach, Ethan, you want to go get something to drink." It wasn't phrased as a question when it was used in her _don't mess with me_ tone.

Zach looked confused. "But, we have drinks right he—"

Magenta accidentally tipped his cup off of the table to splatter to the floor. "Oops, you'd better get another drink, and something to clean this up."

The boys looked at each other, nodded, got up, and walked away.

She smirked. Layla grinned.

"So," began Layla's purple-streaked haired friend, "now that the dweebs are gone, you wanna tell me what's really going on?"

Layla sighed. She knew she shouldn't have tried to trick Magenta; she was her best friend for goodness' sake! "Well, Stronghold is giving me grief again, but that's not something that I can't handle. And there's also this other guy, Warren something. He's been on my case for some reason. He called me Hippie!" she nearly shouted, indignant.

"Wait, what'd you say his name was?" Magenta asked, her eyes widening slightly.

"Warren something. Anyways, I don't care what his name is; he is an arrogant jerk who needs to learn to not get people into trouble over a stupid seat!"

Magenta closed her eyes and shook her head. She began to chuckle.

Layla frowned. "And just what is so funny, Magenta?"

Magenta just shook her head again and waved her hands in front of her. "No-nothing! It's just funny. I though I heard you say Warren was giving you grief."

Layla just stared at her friend as if she were a little bit slow. "I did."

Her friends head shot up. "What? Are you sure? Layla, that guy is dangerous!"

Now it was Layla's turn to laugh. "Dangerous? What do you mean? I mean, I know he's a little weird and all, but—"

"No, I mean it! He's—"

Just then, the boys decided to make their re-entrance. "Excuse us, but we got company, at nine o'clock," said Ethan as he and Zach sat down.

"Huh? What're you talk—"

"Hey, Williams, how's it going?" interrupted a most despised voice.

She closed her eyes and counted to five before answering him. "Stronghold, can't you see that we were in the middle of something? But if you really needed to talk," she turned around and stood up, looking right at him, "then go talk to a wall. You are not welcome here. Have a good day." With that sentiment, she got up and walked out of the cafeteria with her friends on her heels (and a couple of other unexpected visitors).

Will just stood there, looking smug. He knew that she would leave, but that was what he'd wanted. He had seen Warren get up, and he'd assumed that he was going over to Layla's table, so he interfered.

He chanced a look over at the other teen but found that he was no longer there. Will frowned. _Was Warren not going to come over here then? Then what made me come over here?_ Layla's smiling face popped up in his mind. _No, it can't be because of her. I'm sure of it, Warren was coming over here. Now where did he go?_ And he left to go back to his table with his own friends, wondering about what he was going to do.

* * *

Warren had left the cafeteria the moment that he saw Layla and her friends get confronted by Stronghold. There was no way he was going to give that prissy boy the satisfaction of knowing he was right, since he actually _was_ planning on going over to Layla's table and he knew that that's what Stronghold thought he was going to do. So, he did what any other guy would do: he left the room quietly instead of getting caught.

He shook his head. Man, he really needed a break from the noise. It was so damn noisy here in this school! He growled at a couple of kids who were staring at him and they looked away quickly. He needed to get out for a while.

He went outside.

* * *

Layla stomped over to a fountain and plopped herself down on the ledge.

Magenta and the two boys followed her to the fountain but settled themselves comfortably on the soft grass rather than the stone-hard ledge where their currently angered friend was sitting. She had one arm crossed over her lap and the other absentmindedly making a flower burst into bloom into a wide array of unnatural colors.

Magenta calmly looked at her best friend and spoke. "Layla. Stronghold is an ass and he knows that it pushes your buttons when he bothers you. So, the obvious answer would be," she waved her arms dramatically, "don't let him bother you!" she rolled her eyes and let her arms drop back to her side when she didn't get an immediate response.

Layla sighed and stopped playing with her flower which had now returned to its natural yellow and was swaying gently in the breeze. She looked up. "He used to be nicer, a good person." Then her eyes widened in some emotion the others couldn't really place. Was it excitement? No, anger? No, no—happiness? Ugh, they didn't know. They couldn't keep up with the multitude of emotions the girl was putting out.

She was looking at something over Zach's shoulder and she suddenly shot up and, muttering a quick, "I'll be right back," to her friends, sped off to whatever had caught her interest.

Ethan sighed. "That girl is so strange."

Zach and Magenta looked at him in annoyed glances.

"And you're one to talk are you, Puddle Boy?" exclaimed Magenta.

"Hey, at least I'm not you, Gerbil Girl!" he retorted.

Zach started to laugh but quickly covered it up with a cough. Too bad it wasn't fast enough to evade the hearing of the two bickering friends.

"Oh, shut up, Light Bulb!" they shouted in good humor.

"Hey!" he grumbled as he sat down again after jumping up to claim Layla's recently vacated spot. "What?" he replied to the weird looks he was being given. "This spot's better!"

"Ugh, Zach, you moron."

* * *

Layla had seen Warren leaning against a tree away from everyone else reading a book so she decided to run up to her dark haired stalker and harshly tapped him on the shoulder.

He turned around and grabbed her wrist and held it above her head before she could do it again and stared at her. "What?" he glared icily.

She scowled back. "You don't scare me you fire-headed...guy! I want to know just why you wouldn't say that you would leave me alone when I wrote you that note."

He smirked. "Fire-headed guy? Wow; I'm so offended," he repeated monotonously. Layla blushed and glared harder.

"I won't leave you alone. And besides, you are the one who is coming after me." He stated and burned her with his eyes. Or at least that's what that look felt like to Layla, poor girl. She felt as if she were on fire with that gaze and she had to refrain from actually checking for flames.

"What?" she cried. "You started bothering me first! And, hey, let go of my wrist!" she just realized that he still had hold of it. She tried to yank it out of his vice-like grip but to no avail. He was much stronger than her and she didn't like it.

He leaned down to her level and she immediately stopped struggling. "Get one thing straight, Hippie," she huffed but stopped at his menacing look. "Until you remember something from your past, I will not leave you alone and you cannot tell me what to do. Remember, fire kills trees." He started to let go of her wrist, but grabbed onto her hand instead.

"Hey—"

_Maybe this will jog your memory_, "Think before you act, Hippie, remember that I'm stronger than you," he muttered as he released her hand and walked away, back into the school.

Layla stared in shock at the place Warren once stood. _He called me Hippie again! The nerve of him, that—wait, what's this?_ She looked at her hand and gasped. _It's beautiful! But why did he give it to me? And why does it look so familiar? …I'm sure I've never seen it before…_

It was a delicate emerald and ruby crystal necklace with a tiny rose inside of it. Upon closer inspection it seemed that there were tiny words on the rose, but she couldn't make them out. Mentally shrugging, she turned to go back to her friends when she bumped into something. A very hard something. In one swift move she quickly hid the necklace in her purse and looked up. And scowled once more.

_Great,_ she thought, _another person on my Would-Smother-With-Plants-if-I-Weren't-So-Nice list._

"What's up, Williams? What have you got there?" grinned Will as he leaned, relaxed, on the other side of the tree that Warren had just vacated.

She put a fake smile on her face. "Whatever do you mean? I would tell you to leave me alone and go away, but I really don't want to talk to a jerk,"_ or at least not another one, _"so I'm just going to leave. Goodbye jerk!" She skipped off to find her group of friends by the same fountain she left them at.

Will watched her go, right up until she was back with her friends, or what he would call 'losers', and only then did he leave. Layla was going to get it for being rude to him all those years; he just had to wait a little bit longer.

* * *

Warren watched her face as she finally looked at her hand. Her eyes sparkled with wonderment and confusion, but something definitely sparked in her eyes.

He watched as she turned to leave but bumped into someone. He growled; _oh hell no, not that bastard!_ He saw Layla quickly and stealthily put the necklace in her purse and look up. Her confusion and apologetic face turned into one of disgust and false happiness. Warren couldn't hear what they were saying, but in a minute or so Layla walked away from Stronghold and he didn't follow her. He just...stared...at her. That damn idiot!

Warren just grumbled to himself and turned around when he saw Layla sit with her friends and Stronghold finally leave. He didn't realize it, or maybe he just didn't care, but he was scaring the people around him a lot more than usual with all of his grumbling and the fire in his eyes and playing around his fingers.

Poor Warren.

* * *

Just as Layla reached her friends Zach jumped up from his position on the fountain ledge and she chuckled and shook her head, inviting him to stay where he was. She didn't really want to sit down. She guessed it was because all that had just happened. She was debating on telling Magenta about what happened with Will just then.

She had completely forgotten about the necklace she had hidden in her purse.

Just as she decided that she didn't need to tell anyone about Will, the bell ending lunch period rang loud and long, scaring some of the new freshmen which made a few older kids laugh.

"Well people," Magenta started, getting up and wiping her hands on her pants, "let's get ourselves to gym before Boomer calls for us!"

Ethan and Zach shuddered at the thought of Boomer _calling_ for them. They did not want that to happen, so they looked at each other, back to the girls, back to each other, and nodded. They grabbed the girls and high-tailed it towards the gym with the screaming and laughing girls over their shoulders.

They made it to the changing rooms just in time as the boys dumped them in front of theirs and ran into their own without slowing a beat.

Magenta looked like she was going to burst from holding back some laughter so Layla nodded and Magenta promptly laughed her heart out.

"Di-didn't they know that we would have been fine on our own? That we still have," she looked at her black and purple watch, "two minutes left?"

Layla looked at her own watch and frowned. "Um, Magenta, we have like two _seconds_ to get in the changing room!" and ran into the room with a startled Magenta on her tail.

"Oh, whoops!" she said as she reached her gym locker and began getting her clothes while Layla did the same.

"Yeah, yeah. Hehe, well at least we weren't late! We've gotta thank the boys for that!" laughed Layla.

Magenta just laughed.

* * *

Gym started, once again, very uneventfully for the small group once they all got together again after changing. They were all stretching and warming up when Coach Boomer started talking and when he started talking, people generally shut up and listened. Not like they had a choice.

At least the good kids did. The others, who felt that they already knew everything, didn't.

"Once again, we will be doing Save the Citizen!" Boomer announced to groans from some and whistles and cheers from others.

Layla, Magenta, Ethan, and Zach just started to head for the bleachers as they always did since the only ones Boomer ever played were the ones he favored, and they weren't a part of that group.

Except this time, Coach Boomer did something he had never done before. He called on Layla to play.

"What?" she stuttered. "I can't play, Coach Boomer, you know that! I only use my powers in defense, never to just show off in these shows!"

"Get in there with Stronghold, Williams. Just use your powers or you will fail. You just need to pass one game and then you can sit out." He explained.

"Wait, did you say Stronghold?" she spat.

"Yes, I believe he did, Williams. Now come on and get in the ring. Don't keep me waiting." said the brunet as he smirked and jumped into the ring himself.

She sighed in defeat and climbed into the ring. She looked at her friends sitting on the bleachers and saw that they were giving her different looks: Ethan was confused and showed it, Zach was stunned, and Magenta was looking a bit scared for her as well as mad at Coach Boomer—presumably for making her best friend get in a match when he knew that she did not like using her powers just to show off to a crowd.

Layla walked up to Stronghold and stared at his innocent face. _Wait a minute, Will, innocent? Why that little...!_ She glared up at him and said in an angry whisper, "Did you have anything to do with this, you jerk?"

He just glanced back at her coolly, with that innocent expression still planted on his face. "Why, whatever do you mean, Layla? It was just a coincidence," he purred with malicious amusement in his eyes that he just couldn't get rid of, not that he was trying to hide it.

She just grumbled and crossed her arms over her chest as she waited to see her opponents. She gasped when she saw who stepped into the ring across from them. Lash and Alex Bowen. The super-stretcher and the shape-shifter who could change into anything and wasn't limited to one thing like Magenta. _Great,_ she thought, _one person who might still be sore after I almost got him expelled last year—and actually _did_ get his best friend expelled, one person who is giving me a perverted look right now—gross!— and one person whom I absolutely cannot stand! Great._

"Ready?" asked Boomer as he looked between both teams. Once he got nods saying 'yes', he yelled, "Ready, Set, GO!" and dropped his arm, starting the exercise.

Immediately, Will flew up and towards the dummy they were supposed to be saving while Layla was left on the ground looking around hopelessly, wondering if she should use her powers or not. She knew that she would have a good chance of helping her team win if she did, when suddenly a purple and black striped arm shot out at her and tried to grab her. It would have, too, if she hadn't jumped out of the way just in time.

Suddenly, Alex, the shape-shifter, was in front of her and he reached out to grab her arms and toss her away into the corner while Will was being tackled by Lash, but Layla wasn't going to give up without a fight _and_, she considered, _it is now self-defense since Alex will probably kill me if I don't do anything!_ So she sent some power into the floor, willing something to come up.

Something did. _Yes!_

A vine shot up through the floor of the gym and the ring and grabbed Alex around the ankles, tripping him as he tried to step forward to reach for Layla again, for she had jumped out of the way the first time.

He fell with a loud _thunk!_ and as he was trying to tear the very strong vines away from his ankles, another one rose up and wrapped itself around his arms and wrists, effectively constraining him. As he struggled to get free, completely forgetting about his own power since he was surprised that Layla had actually used some of her own against him, the girl in question turned to watch the match with Lash and Will.

It looked like Lash was getting the upper hand, but she refused to use any more of her powers in this barbaric game to show off strength just to help out Will. Actually, it looked like he didn't need her help since he managed to get free of Lash's entangling arms and flew up to the dummy to once again try to save it.

Alex, forgotten until now, caught Layla by surprise as he had finally remembered his power and transformed into a fly to escape and once he did he grabbed the girl from behind and tried to crush her to the floor, but, her being a girl and more flexible than him, she wriggled her way out of his grip and rolled away before he slammed into the ground.

She was just about to look up and see how her teammate was doing, when she was once again caught, but this time it was by a long arm which slammed her to the ground.

"Lash? Oh my god, I thought that you were battling Will! _Idiot_!" she berated herself. She could now see that Alex was going against Will who had almost grabbed the dummy when their two opponents had decided to switch again. Alex was now a giant bird who was trying to peck him to death. Layla would have laughed at the scene if she didn't have her own problems to deal with. Plus, the timer was almost done! They had to win! "Lash, get off of me, you stretching freak!" she shrieked.

He laughed mirthlessly, and said, "Nope, I like it like this. Me in control and you losing the game!" he wrapped his long arms around her and started to pull her up, her back to his chest.

Before he could, though, she decided once again to use her powers in this exercise. This time, she produced extremely tall vines full of poison ivy—who knew they had that under their gym?—and covered him with it. He let her go in shock as he tried to get away from the clingy vines and started scratching himself where the ivy touched bare skin.

The bell rang, and Layla looked up in shock. Had they won? Yes! Apparently they had. Will was dropping back to the ground with the dummy over his shoulder.

Automatically, the vines she had called up went back to where they had come from, leaving gaping holes in their wake.

Will came down to her and dropped the dummy at her feet, smirking smugly. "We won, Williams. How's about a kiss to celebrate?" he whispered and blew her a kiss. She gasped and slapped him across the face.

Correction: she tried to slap him across the face, but was prevented from doing so as Coach Boomer came down and raised both Will and her arms, announcing officially that they won the match to applause and cheers.

She stalked out of the ring and slammed herself down on the bleachers with her friends. "This period needs to end. NOW." She grumbled with her arms crossed again.

When her friends didn't answer, she looked up at them only to see that they were staring in shock over her shoulder. She turned around and groaned at what she saw. Apparently Boomer had chosen new opponents while she was grumbling about being "forced to play that stupid exercise all because of that stupid Stronghold" and three people had accumulated behind her. Warren, Will, and Lash: one looking at her with approval, one with smugness, and one with hate. Wonderful, just what she needed. Oy vey.

"Go away, all of you," she muttered sweetly, yet darkly at the same time. At her tone, all but two people shuddered.

Lash glared at her and said, "No; you can't tell me what to do, Williams."

Will just stated, "I believe this is a free country, Layla, and I choose to sit here. You can't make me leave." How she hated his smug tone.

Warren looked at her like he was trying to decipher something, sighed when he didn't find it, and just said, "No," before leaning back in his seat.

_Stupid girl, I know you can remember it, wear the necklace, or at least remember what it's from._

The bell finally rang for the end of the period and Layla almost ran to the dressing room just to get out of there. She _really_ hated gym.

Lash stared at her until she was out of sight and only then did he get up to go to the boys' dressing room. _That girl will get what's coming to her, and I will be all too happy to deliver it, personally._

Will watched her go with amusement until he too got up to get dressed. _That girl is going to suffer a lot more for standing up to me and for being little Miss Priss._

Warren was the last of the 'stalkers' to leave. He was thinking that it was definitely going to be harder than he thought to get her to trust him and remember their past. He finally got up and left as well.

* * *

_This whole thing is getting crazy, first it was Lash last year, it's always been Stronghold, and now Warren is bugging the heck out of me! Really, when will they give it a rest?_

_—sigh—_

_Well, I guess this is it for this journal entry. But what do they all want from me?_

* * *

**AN:** Once again, so sorry about the late update! If you read the above AN, then you know why.

So, was this chapter any good? I wasn't really sure on the Save the Citizen part, but eh. Oh well. I'm really sick and I couldn't really care less right now.

Please review! It will make me smile and hopefully make me feel better and not so sick! Hehe

Thank you so much to everyone who reviewed the last chapter! Can I make another deal with you all? I promise to update really fast if I can get a lot of reviews for this chapter! My internet will not screw up again, I won't let it!

ttfn!

EvilFaerie17

**_EDIT:_ 9/26/2011**


	4. Just Great

**AN:** So very sorry for the very late update but I've been really busy with finishing school. Finally done! School is over! But, I got a little sidetracked reading other stories that I found or I was alerted to a new chapter...sorry!

**AN:** Hello again! I'm back with a new chapter for all you Mystery fans. I hope that you all have liked the previous chapters, and that you all will like this chapter as well!

Please read and review because I'd really like feedback, good or not. –smiles- **Please note that this is AU and most things **_**will**_** be different except people, powers, and the school. Anything else is fair game.**

**Disclaimer:** If you actually think that I own them, you are deluded; I wish I owned them!

* * *

***Chapter Four***

**Just Great**

This day was just going so well. First, Layla had met the most annoying person in the world—who just loved to make her life a living hell so far, and promised more. Then, everything goes downhill from there. What was it with the males of this school? Did they all have a stupid affinity to make her life a living hell in their own way possible?

She sighed and came to a conclusion when she noticed who was heading towards her. _Yes. Yes they do._

"Well, well, well. Look who's here; why, it's the hippie girl who nearly got me thrown out last year. What a pleasant surprise," came the sarcastic and mocking voice of the stretching male.

Layla kept walking and, with a glare towards her new pest, brushed past him. Or would have, had he not grabbed her wrist in a bruising grip and pulled her into an empty room.

She yelped as she was being thrown into the room but as soon as Lash had closed the door she had her glare back in full force and wrenched herself out of his grip. "What the hell is wrong with you _Landon?_" she demanded, using his real name just to piss him off.

He growled at her words. He hated it when _anybody_ used his real name, especially her. "The name's Lash. You should know that by now, _Layla_." Despite his angry words and stance, he spoke calmly, suppressing his anger.

She wasn't fooled. "Oh, don't act all calm! You are a pathetic bastard, you know that?" she spat, her arms crossing over her chest, leaning forward slightly. Her brown eyes were smoldering as she yelled at him.

He glared at her as he slowly walked forward towards her and growled again, lower than before. "Oh, is that right? Well, if that's true, then why am I still here, plant lover?"

She snorted. "Plant lover? Oh please, is that the best you can do?" she laughed. "As for the other thing, well, that little problem would have been solved last year had you gotten expelled with your friend."

He stretched his arms and slammed her into the wall before she could move away. He kept her there as he slowly walked towards her again as she struggled to get away from his unsurprisingly strong form.

"Let me go, you prick!" she yelled, wishing at that moment that she had Warren's power of fire so that she could roast Lash to the bone. She was actually surprised at herself as she expressed all these violent thoughts.

_Jeez, what is with these three getting me all violent and grumpy?_

She was also surprised she wished for Warren's power since she was always exceptionally happy with her own power.

Wait.

Her own power. Why hadn't she thought of it sooner? She could just use her powers to get herself out of this stupid situation! _But wait,_ she thought almost immediately, _I can't use my powers! That is just against who I am, even if it could technically be considered self-defense._ She sighed mentally, while externally she was still struggling to get out of Lash's strong grip. _Guess I'll have to think of another way to get out of this mess..._ Suddenly, she had a thought. She didn't like it, but it was as good as anything right now since it seemed that nobody had noticed her little disappearance and wouldn't be rushing in to help her. And she didn't dare scream for help, not after what had happened the last time.

Besides, it's not like anyone would hear, or try to help once they saw who was torturing whom. Unless it was Magenta or one of her other friends that heard, but they were on the other side of the school. _Oh well, I guess I gotta do this the hard way._

"No, I don't think I will, damn plant lover," Lash sneered as he walked slowly towards her.

_Oh great. I just hope that this will work._ "Jeez, again with the plant lover thing. Can't you think of something else for once in your miserable life?" Layla scoffed.

Lash just smirked and kept on walking. "You're in no position to be rude to me, little girl."

_LITTLE GIRL? What the hell is up with him? I am NOT just a little girl!_ "LITTLE GIRL? What the hell is up with you, you asshole? I am not just a little girl! I have powers, hence the reason I'm at this school," she spat, highly insulted.

Once again, he just laughed.

This time, Layla decided to try a different approach. "You know what? You are just a pathetic little boy, trying to be a man. You're scum. You're lower than scum! You're not even worth the scum I would wipe off my shoe," she growled.

All of a sudden, Lash was in her angry face, his own smoldering with barely contained rage as his hands continued to squeeze her arms harder and harder until she was sure that it would leave marks or break something, both of which, she wasn't particularly fond of. "What did you say, Hippie?" Lash questioned, his voice barely containing the extreme rage and viciousness inside.

She tried to ignore the pain of being squeezed and managed to continue her rant.

"Don't call me that. You are not allowed to call me that!" she paused. "And could you please get out of my face, or at least get a breath mint? God, that stinks!"

Lash flushed. His breath didn't stink; he brushed his teeth thank you very much! He ignored her and willed his blush to go away.

"Oh, so I'm not allowed to call you that, but your new boyfriend can? Is that it? And SHUT UP! I brush my teeth twice a day, my breath doesn't stink!"

She stopped struggling for a second and gave him a disbelieving glare. Then she started struggling again and that time lapse was a thing of the past.

"He's not my boyfriend! He's not even my friend! I don't like him and he doesn't like me! And he's not allowed to call me that either, he just does...oh, shut up!"

Lash suddenly stopped giving her a death glare and settled for a regular glare as he also stopped putting so much pressure on her to be still. He leaned forward to reach her ears, and spoke. "I will get you back for what you almost did to me last year, and this is only level one, so get used to it."

_Okay, this is it! NOW!_ Layla mentally supported herself as she let out a bloodcurdling scream right into Lash's ear.

He let go of her in shock and pain as he clasped his hands over his offended ear and staggered back a few steps.

He looked up at her with a glare. "You bitch!"

"You asshole," she stated, shaking her head as she raised her arms. "You're an idiot." And she called up her plants from the ground, ordering them to wrap around Lash for a little bit until she could get out of the room, and then to go back to where they were.

She slammed open the door and ran outside without looking, which caused her to run into something. Something hard. And something, or should she say someone, very warm. She looked up and cursed for not watching to see where she was going. She was looking up into the very surprised face of none other than Will Stronghold.

As she made to turn and run the other way, he grabbed her arms and held her there. "Hey, what's the problem? Why did you come tearing out of the Soundproof Room?" she gasped. No wonder no one came to help her! Why did she always let herself get caught in that fucking room? "And what did yo—"

"WILLIAMS!" came the outraged cry of one stretchy teenager. He came tearing out of the room and had to screech to a stop to avoid colliding with the other two heroes.

"...what the hell were you doing with Lash?" asked Will, with a small smirk on his face beginning to form.

She glared up at him and clutched her small purse to her chest, which had remained 'hidden' until that point since she had bumped into Will, causing it to fall.

"None of your business, Stronghold. Now, the both of you, leave me the hell alone!" she whisper-yelled, which would have been intimidating to those who had the unfortunate chance of hearing it, had it not come from a slip of a girl who looked like she'd blow away in the wind. She spun on her heels, and walked the other way.

The two boys left behind stared at her until she was out of sight. Then they looked at each other and growled.

"Stay the fuck away from her, Lash; she's mine."

"Like hell I will! I have a score to settle and a debt to repay with her, so you'd better leave her to me, Stronghold, else I'll do the same to you I'll do to her."

They glared at each other once more and then turned to walk separate ways down the Abandoned Hallway.

They really weren't joking when they named that hallway, were they? …Why was it even in the school?

* * *

Layla was steamed. She hated being caught off guard like that. _I can't believe that I used my powers, though! Man, I hope that I don't get caught; I really don't want Mom finding out._ She groaned mentally as she rolled panicked eyes to the ceiling.

"Please don't let her find out!" Layla whispered to herself as she entered the main hallway where everyone else was busy talking to their friends and slamming locker doors and generally making a racket.

She scoured the hallway until she saw her three best friends by her locker, in what looked to be a heated argument.

She sighed. What was wrong now?

She quickly walked up to them and decided to listen in on part of their conversation, which she had apparently walked into at the wrong time.

"...and you said that you wanted me!" yelled Zach to a red-faced Ethan.

"No, I said that I wanted you far away from me! I don't like to have you hovering over my shoulder like that!" yelled back Ethan who was red-faced not from embarrassment, but from controlled anger.

"Both of you shut the hell up! It doesn't matter who wanted who and who didn't, but you're giving me a fucking migraine so shut up!" yelled Magenta as she rubbed her temples.

Layla chose this moment to step in. "Hey, um, guys, if you don't mind my asking, what's going on?"

All three of them jumped. They hadn't heard their nature friend come up. Magenta smiled when she saw Layla and rolled her eyes, making a slashing motion across her neck towards the two boys of the group.

"Layla! I was just yelling at Ethan because he had said he wanted me but now he says he doesn't!" complained Zach.

"No, what I had said was I didn't want to be with you! Get the facts!" replied Ethan exasperatedly.

Layla was really confused. _Does he mean...?_ "I-I'm sorry, but could you please help me out here and tell me what is going on from the beginning? I'm lost."

Magenta suddenly burst into laughter. "You, you think, bwahahahaha!"

Ethan suddenly caught on and shook his head furiously. "No! That's not what anybody was thinking, Magenta, so please be quiet!" he turned to Layla. "We were assigned group projects in our Sidekicks History class and were allowed to pick our own partners. I, remembering all of the projects that go awry at the hands of Zach, exclaimed that I didn't want to work with him on this particular assignment, but the teacher, Ms. Mencken, heard me say that I _wanted_ to be with him no matter what—how she interpreted that from what I said I don't know—and put us together. I was trying to get a different partner but Zach made a ruckus and started complaining and now I'm stuck with him!"

"...you are so mean to me..." stated Zach, sadly.

"Okay, so I was right, that this is about some assignment or other, but what exactly happened the last times again? My memory's getting a b-bit fuzzy." She was convincing up until the end where her voice started to crack from suppressed laughter.

Ethan sighed. He knew this was going to happen, but he decided to humor her just in case she really had forgotten.

"Remember? We were supposed to make a small magazine complete with articles and games and pictures and whatnot for our Sidekicks History class and we got to pick our partners. Of course, being best friends, Zach and I picked each other even though we both knew that it might be a disaster. We ended up doing the wrong assignment because it was Zach's job to copy down the instructions _exactly as they were_ and help create the magazine. But," he stopped and glared at all three of his friends who were struggling to hide their laughter as they motioned for him to continue his story.

"But, he got the message wrong and instead we brought a magazine to class that had the absolute wrong information and assignments inside of it and—that's it, I won't say anymore, you are free to laugh as hard as you want to now." He finished monotonously as he continued to glare at his three friends who laughed—loudly—at the memory of the complete tale. _Ah,_ thought the four of them, yes, including Ethan, _that was priceless._

They stopped laughing after a couple of minutes, and started to talk about other things as Layla pulled out her own history books, effectively forgetting what had transpired earlier with Lash and Will. She just unconsciously shoved the memory into a corner of her brain and forgot about it for the time being.

It was better for her sanity.

"Well, I guess I'll see you after school!" Layla airily stated to her friends as she started to walk down to her class.

They were walking to their own classes, Magenta to Algebra II, Ethan to Mad Science, and Zach to English. They were all separated for the last class of the day, which was sad, but still fun since it was only that last class until they got together again.

"Bye, Layla! See you at the benches right after!" called Magenta as the blonde boy stuck two fingers into the air and grinned back at the only hero of the group, and the bespectacled one just smiled and waved.

Ah. Those were her best friends. She loved them for everything they were worth ever since they first met in middle school.

As Layla practically skipped into her history classroom, her good mood evaporated when she saw just who was sitting right next to her seat in the back row right by the window. She groaned in aggravation.

Today was just not her day at all. She thought that she would be free from him at least in her last period of the day! At least in the class where she got to basically do nothing since, like math, she was very good in the class.

She stiffly walked over to her seat and dropped her bag onto the floor, sitting down in her seat not looking to her left.

"What are you doing in my class, Warren?"

He looked over at her and smirked. "Why, whatever do you mean, Hippie? I have this class."

She groaned and slowly started to hit her head against her desk top softly. "I figured as much, I was just hoping that you were a bad hallucination or something."

"Now, now, that isn't very nice, is it? Come on Hippie, look on the bright side: since I'm sitting next to you, it means neither of those two idiots can," Warren pointed to the door where Will and Lash were apparently having a staring contest.

_Oh yeah, that's right. Today's Wednesday, the day some people switch rooms. I hate Wednesdays._ She made a face and put her purse on her desk to concentrate on finding her special pen instead of the maniacs in the room with her. She hated Hero classes. These jerks were in almost all of them with her. Wonderful.

She really wanted to be back with her friends in the relative safety and slight boredom of Sidekick classes.

She could feel the heat of three intense stares on her throughout the period but refused to look at any of them, or give them the satisfaction of seeing how much their stares were affecting her.

She was firm.

She was strong.

She was not going to look.

She was...being stared at by the entire class.

_...what? Did I miss something?_ She thought to herself, confused.

"I'm sorry, Ms. Wilton, I didn't hear you. Could you repeat that, please?"

Ms. Wilton looked at her in concern. Layla was looking to be one of her top students, she didn't want anything to be wrong with Layla, or to bring down her concentration. "Is something the matter, Miss Williams? You look a bit distracted today. Do you need to go to the nurse?"

Layla blushed slightly; she knew that Ms. Wilton liked her, but still!

"No, no, I'm fine Ms. Wilton, really! I'm sorry if I seemed a bit distracted, I don't know what came over me. But what was your question earlier?" she asked politely. She liked Ms. Wilton as well and didn't see the point in back talking, or being rude, to her like she had done earlier with Mr. Medulla when she was caught not listening in his class.

"Okay, if you're sure, honey. The question was what was the first heroic action committed by The Sand-Man?"

She smiled. "The Sand-Man's first recorded heroic action was when he saved the dreams of little children in his small town when they were being plagued by Dr. Terror's horrible nightmares and evil deeds."

"Correct! Now, class let us move on to..." and she continued the lesson after Layla's correct answer, not noticing that she once again seemed to be distant and distracted and not making eye contact with anyone when she wasn't distracted by thin air.

Half an hour later the bell rang and everybody gathered up their books and bags and notes and filed out the door, talking with each other about the lack of homework for their history class. They almost never got free nights in that class! All they had to do was go home, rest, relax, and worry over other homework until the next day.

Awesome!

Layla stood up slowly and stretched. Her legs were cramped from sitting in the same position for an hour and a half. She stretched her arms up into the air and quickly put them down again as she remembered her friends.

She grabbed her books and hastily shoved them into her bag and closed it up, making sure that nothing could fall out and that she didn't leave anything behind before leaving.

She meandered her way over to her locker and deposited her books, getting out her math book to complete that night's homework. She slammed her locker shut and twisted the dial to the zero out of habit before she turned and walked away towards the doors and outside.

She didn't notice at the time, but as she walked to the benches to await her friends three others were following her cautiously and slowly, making sure that she was "safe" and alone.

Each person had his own reasons for watching her, one of malice, one of obsession, one of curiosity and aggravation. But which was which? Who's to know?

* * *

"_...she will pay..."_

"_...she will be mine..."_

"_...she will regret..."_

"_...I'll make her..."_

"_...I will get her back..."_

* * *

"_...she's so stubborn..."_

"_...she's beautiful..."_

"_...she's so insane..."_

"_...she's perfect..."_

"_...she's annoying as hell..."_

"_...she's mine to torture..."_

* * *

"_...she's too stubborn..."_

"_...she won't remember willingly..."_

"_...but she needs to..."_

"_...just fucking remember already you damn Hippie!"_

* * *

Layla suddenly sneezed three times in a row and looked up in alarm. "What was that about?" she asked herself as she glanced around.

She was kind of superstitious. Like, for example, when someone sneezes just randomly it means that someone was talking about them somewhere, good or bad.

She shrugged it off and continued to wait. Magenta always took a while at her locker since it always got stuck and she would always end up wrestling with it for a good 5-10 minutes, until Zach would come and try to get it for her but would be yelled back to his former position by the shape-shifter who insisted that she "can get my own damn locker!" Ethan would come over and stay with Zach for the ten or so minutes and then they would all walk out to meet with Layla.

It hadn't always been that way. One or two of them would try to come out to be with Layla while the others battled with the "locker from hell" but soon found out that she enjoyed the peace and quiet before they all left the school and used the time and silence to think, or help out the greenery around the benches. As a result, the flowers were always perfect and the grounds were always weed free.

So now they all just waited until all three were ready before going out to meet up with Layla.

As she waited, she accidentally dropped her purse, spilling its contents out onto the ground.

She glared at the mess and leaned down to pick it up, all the while cursing silently about broken zippers and how she really needed a new purse.

As she was putting everything back into her purse, she found the necklace that Warren had given her earlier at lunch.

She looked at it and smiled. "It is very pretty. I wonder what those tiny words on that tiny rose say. Oh well, I will figure it out later, at home." On a whim, she decided to put it on. Once she did, she smiled again. It felt so...right...against her skin. It was just the right weight and size. Not too heavy, not too big, not too light, not too small. Just right. _Haha, like Goldilocks._

She liked the way the emeralds and the rubies shined and sparkled in the sun and how it complemented her skin-tone. She looked up as she heard her friends as they finally made it outside and over to her.

"Sorry we took so long, Layla, but that stupid locker from hell wouldn't coope—"

"Wouldn't cooperate with you and you smashed it into a zillion pieces? Hehe, I'm just kidding Maj!" she laughed at the usual response Magenta always gave to her for being late. It was always something about the locker.

"Haha, why don't you just go to Principal Powers and have her get someone to a) fix it for you, or b) get you a new locker?" Layla questioned, although she already knew the answer.

Magenta just looked at her with slightly hurt, slightly amused, slightly embarrassed eyes, and spoke with that child-like voice that bugged the heck out of some people. "But, where's the fun in that? Really Layla, you wound me!" she laughed.

They always did this. It was like their daily after school ritual. It was just a game, one they played everyday, but one that would never get old because of the wording used each day.

"Hey, guys, do you all want to hang out tonight? It's Wednesday..." started Zach as his eyes started to take on a mysterious glow. By this time, they were already walking towards the bus.

"Hmmm, let us think...um, duh!" shouted the two girls of the group as Ethan covered his smile with his hand and Zach didn't even bother to cover up his own huge grin.

Ah, Wednesday. It was their 'during-the-week-hang-out-day'. It was right in the middle of the week, so it was perfect. They would alternate each week on what they would do, but they always got together. Last week, they had stayed over at Zach's house and watched movies and ate popcorn and played pool and other types of games all night—after they finished their homework of course, that was a rule that all of the parents had made clear if their kids wanted to keep their Wednesday nights, and it was a rule duly noted and followed. Another rule was that if they didn't spend the night, they had to be home by midnight.

Spending the night was optional and the parents knew that nothing would happen between the teenagers; the girls' fathers had made sure of that the first time they'd had an impromptu sleepover.

This week, they were going to be over at Magenta's house and they were going to have fun. That is, until both Magenta and Layla got phone calls on their cell phones.

Magenta's mom had called her. Apparently they couldn't do the Wednesday night at her house anymore.

"Huh? Why not? Oh, really? Yikes. Okay, then, we'll just have it at someone else's house. Who's? Um," she covered the microphone, "hey Layla, can we do the night at your house instead? Ours has a little problem at the moment...I'd rather not go into it here, outside the school."

"Sure, of course we can! That just means double time at your house next!"

"Deal!" she went back to talking to her mother. "Yeah, we'll go over to Layla's house. She doesn't mind to have it there this week. Yeah, uh-huh. Yes. Yeah. _Yes, Mom,_" she stressed. "Don't worry. Okay, yeah, sure. Gotta go now. Love you, too. Bye. Bye!" she hung up. "Ugh, moms. Can't live with them, can't let them talk your ears off."

Everyone laughed. Then Layla's phone rang.

"Hello?" she paused and her eyes went stony. "How did you get my number? Fine, goodbye," she was about to hang up when the person on the other line said something. She put the phone back to her ear and listened again. "Yeah, sure, fine, whatever. Just don't come over to bother me," and she hung up the phone, rolling her eyes.

"Who was that?" asked Ethan.

"Eh, don't worry about it. It was just a pathetic loser who lost his way." She replied.

"Oooh. So it was Stronghold?" asked Zach.

Layla grinned and Magenta smirked. "Yep."

"Well, what did he want?"

"Oh, nothing. So, what do you guys want to do at my house when we get there?" she changed the subject smoothly as they got onto the bus.

Pretty soon, they were flying through the air with the scared freshmen screaming their heads off.

_Just great. This day was _just great_._ Layla thought to herself as she settled herself against the seat and talked with her friends.

* * *

_Okay, that was a really stupid phone call from that fathead Will Stronghold. Ugh, he really isn't worth the time or the effort so I will stop writing and talking and thinking about him and how obnoxious he is._

_I just can't believe that all three of those weirdos were in my last class today! Great, this is turning out to be a fabulous day. I wonder what the rest of the week will bring?_

_I'm just glad that it's Wednesday Night! It's gonna be great!_

* * *

Layla closed her notebook and concentrated on the conversation her friends were having: something about ice-cream and sandwiches. She laughed when Zach said something stupid and felt at ease for the first time that day.

* * *

**AN:** Hello people! Sorry for the long wait, but I had some stuff to deal with, what with school ending, summer beginning, stories to read, other stuff to do, I just couldn't find the time. But it's here now, so please review it! I'll be very happy if you do!

Personally, I didn't like this chapter all that much, but it is 3:15 A.M. right now and I'm tired. I hope that you guys liked it though! Oh, and since it's so late and I'm so tired, I am not going to read over this thing so if anyone spots any blaring mistakes feel free to tell me and I will fix it! Other than that, good night readers! Remember, I love you all! :]

ttfn!

EvilFaerie17

**_EDIT:_ 9/26/2011**


	5. Mistake

**AN:** Okay. I know I've got some explaining to do on why I've been MIA for the last 4 years or so, and I will do it after this chapter so that you can get right to the good stuff.

Also, I am SO COMPLETELY SORRY for not updating in SUCH a long time, and I hope this meets up to your expectations, or at least doesn't disappoint (too badly) :) As always, concrit and reviews are much appreciated! And a BIG THANK YOU to all those who have reviewed, alerted, and favorited this story so far! I love you guys!

This is a super long chapter for you guys, since it's been a LONG time and I felt you deserved it. Hope you enjoy!

BTW, I went and edited my other chapters. As I was rereading this story to get back in the feel of it I noticed some things that just bugged me, so I fixed them. Nothing major, just some minor fixes, but if you haven't read this in a while it wouldn't hurt to go back and catch yourself up :)

- **Please note that this is AU and most things **_**will**_** be different except important people, powers, and the school. Anything else is fair game. -**

**Disclaimer:** The characters that you see before you that you recognize do not belong to me; they are the property of Disney and whomever else owns them. _However_, this story itself has come from my own creation and my own mind.

* * *

***Chapter Five***

**Mistake**

As the bus zoomed away after dropping the students off, the four friends laughed and joked their way to Layla's house, each recounting moments of their day for Layla who laughed at their jokes and the funny moments she wished she could have been there for. If her friends noticed the slight sadness and longing in her eyes they didn't comment on it, not wanting to distress their friend even more.

In an effort to erase the sadness, Magenta tripped Zach as he tried to pass her and Ethan just pointed and laughed as his best friend wheeled his arms around comically, trying not to fall flat on his face as he lost balance. Thankfully, they made it to the house in one piece—though not for lack of trying.

It was a simple house, but beautiful in its simplicity with its whitewashed exterior and earth-toned accents. There was also a lovely, carefully tended garden, courtesy of Layla, all around the house, giving it a homey, peaceful atmosphere.

The oak tree in the front yard was big enough to cast shade over the entire yard when needed, so Layla and her friends could hang out outside without fear of burning up when it was really hot, and the redhead made sure to keep everything fresh and green. All without abusing her powers _too_ much!

Layla smiled as she walked up her sidewalk. To her, it wasn't just a house. It was a home, her home. A place she could escape to at the end of the day.

To the others, it was a fantastic home away from home. Goodness knew they each spent enough time at the others' houses for it to be true.

Still giggling over Zach's near mishap, Layla unlocked the front door and entered, calling out a greeting to her mother as everyone clambered through the doorway.

Mrs. Williams came into the hall wiping off her hands with a dishtowel and smiled at the familiar scene.

"Hey honey, hi kids. How was school today?"

To all those who did (or even did not) know the Williams family, it was immediately apparent that Layla received most of her looks from her mother. They both had red hair, though the elder Williams' was a shade or two darker, the same pale skin, and the same friendly smile. However, while Layla was slim and just above average height for a girl, her mother, while still considered thin, was slightly more rounded and on the shorter side.

"Hi, Mrs. Williams! School was good, wasn't it, Hippie?" Magenta grinned.

"Hippie? Haha, oh dear, I haven't heard that nickname in a while. What brought that on?" Mrs. Williams asked.

Layla groaned exasperatedly, "Oh, shut up Magenta! It's nothing, Mom, just some guy at school who is determined to stalk me and or drive me insane. You know, like Will? Except possibly less horrible. I don't really know yet."

As her mother started laughing at her "joke"—no matter what her daughter tried to tell her, Mrs. Williams would not believe that Layla and that nice William Stronghold were enemies—Layla pushed her friends towards the stairs with little difficulty seeing as how they were already on their way.

"Hon, do you want me to send up some snacks later or will you just come and go when you're hungry?" she questioned.

The teens looked at each other and shrugged. "We'll get something when we're hungry, thanks Mom. And thanks for letting us switch the schedule around this week!" Layla said and they continued up the stairs.

Making it to the room, they immediately dumped their backpacks on the floor and sank into comfortable positions throughout the room.

"So," Magenta voiced from her cozy spot on Layla's beanbag chair, "do we have to do our homework first today? 'Cause, you know, I really don't want to…" she cut herself off at the looks the others were sending her. "Yeah, never mind."

Zach laughed from his sprawled out position on the floor as he stretched. "Come on, Maj, it's not like it's hard."

"Yeah, and we've all got the same stuff for the most part so we can get it done quicker," Ethan pointed out. "And Layla can flaunt her superiority over us as she works out her Hero homework!"

Layla snorted and flopped sideways on her bed. "Yeah, 'cause it's so much better to have Hero homework than Hero Support. Anyways, let's get cracking; the sooner we start, the sooner we finish. And the faster we finish, the quicker we can get to actually enjoying our Wednesday night!"

And with that they all reached for their bags and pulled out their books, some less enthusiastically than others.

* * *

By the time the foursome had finished their homework their stomachs were growling and their mouths were complaining.

"Hey Lala, I'm gonna go get food. What do you guys want?"

Zach was the only one allowed to call Layla Lala. This was simply because when he had met her he'd honestly thought that was her name. He'd misheard the introduction and had proceeded to call her the wrong name for the better part of a week without her contradicting him.

When Layla had introduced Zach to Magenta, he'd made the mistake of asking her how she and 'Lala' had met. Magenta had looked at him weirdly before responding that she didn't know a Lala.

Zach, looking confused, had then been mortified when it was explained to him that 'Lala' was actually Layla. After apologizing for an eternity with Magenta just looking like she wanted to smack him upside the head and laugh at the same time and Layla giggling with a blush on her face, he asked why she hadn't corrected him before.

"_I've never had a nickname before," _she'd replied with a shy smile. _"And it was cute."_

Lala became Zach's nickname for his new friend and the rest was history.

Back in the present, the blonde was quickly regretting his question as the others bombarded him with requests. He held his hands up, hastily retreated from the room, and ran down the stairs to the relative safety of the kitchen.

Hearing the commotion, Mrs. Williams stopped humming and turned her head from the table.

"Hello Zach, did you draw the short stick this time?" she asked, a twinkle in her bright blue eyes as she caught sight of the tall boy running into the room.

"No ma'am," he chuckled, rubbing the back of his neck, "I was just the first to get up and ask who wanted food."

"Oh, dear," she laughed; she could imagine how well that went over. "Well, I could make you kids something or you can just dig through the fridge. Whatever you feel like."

"That's okay Mrs. W, I'm just gonna grab some snacks and stuff. Thanks!" he said as he proceeded to the pantry.

Finally making it back up the stairs, loaded down with snacks of all kinds, he pushed open Layla's bedroom door with his foot and was met with utter chaos.

"Hey guys, I got some food—whoa!"

He quickly jumped to the side to avoid the fluffy yellow pillow hurtling towards him. "What was that for? I have foodstuffs!"

His voice caused the others to look his way and froze them enough for him to safely put his cargo down before the chaos started again.

"Finally! You're back, and with sustenance! I thought Magenta was gonna go all crazy over there. She started attacking Ethan with a jacket," Layla gasped as she tried hard to keep from snorting with laughter.

"Hey! He was making faces at me, I had to retaliate!" the purple and black haired girl pouted, crossing her arms over her chest.

Ethan just looked silly. His glasses were askew and he was hanging half off the chair he had been sitting on. How that had happened was a mystery to his blonde haired best friend. "Wha-? No I wasn't! It was a random attack, I tell you! Random!"

Zach took the scene in properly: Layla was perched on her bed armed to the teeth with pillows, Magenta was partially off her beanbag chair and had her upper body flat on the floor, hair in a wild mess due to her fall, and Ethan was just a sight. He couldn't help himself—Zach started chuckling, which soon became an uncontrollable, deep, belly laugh that had him clutching his sides and in danger of falling to the floor.

The blonde's laughter was infectious, and soon all four of them were sprawled out on the floor, or bed in Layla's case, laughing as if they couldn't stop.

* * *

After the laughing fit they suffered, the night went on pretty smoothly. They played games, watched a couple movies, had a humongous pillow fight—inspired by Layla and her Pillow Fortress of Doom Zach had walked in on earlier—and ate copious amounts of junk food.

By half past eleven the others had decided that they weren't going to spend the night and began packing up their things and helping Layla clean up the mess they had made. When that was done, they had to text their parents and say that they might be a bit late since they had lost track of time and it was then almost midnight. It was a good thing they all lived relatively close-by.

"Bye, everyone! Tonight was awesome, and remember, Maj, next time my night comes around it's on you," she reminded with a wink as the shape-shifter grinned and nodded. "See you all in the morning!"

Shutting the door, Layla suddenly felt exhausted. Her long day was finally catching up with her and she really needed a shower and to go to sleep.

She made her way back up the stairs to the bathroom. After starting the shower and heating the water to where she wanted it, she began the task of undressing. She pulled off her shirt and through her peripheral vision saw something sparkling around her neck.

"Oh…" her slender fingers lightly touched the delicate necklace as she gazed into the mirror.

Layla had completely forgotten about the necklace; it had been hidden beneath her shirt and she hadn't even felt it since putting it on. It wasn't heavy, but it wasn't light, either. _Like Goldilocks,_ she giggled, _not too hot, not too cold_.

Without taking her eyes off of her reflection, she slowly pulled her hands up to unclasp the necklace and held it, careful not to damage it in any way.

"Why did he give this to me?" she whispered. "I don't even know him… I can't keep this, it's too beautiful; it must have been a mistake. It looks expensive…" She stared at it, wistfully.

"I have to give it back to him," she muttered, shower completely forgotten in the background even though steam permeated the air, as she focused completely on the piece of jewelry in her hands. As she spoke the words, though, she felt a sharp pang deep within her body—she would _not_ say in her soul—that confused her. It was almost as if it were physically painful to even _think_ about giving it back to Warren.

A sudden knock interrupted her musings causing the girl to shriek and jump slightly in the air.

"Honey, you alright? Do you have towels? I just grabbed some hot ones from the dryer if you need any," Mrs. Williams called through the door.

"Uh, yeah, Mom, I'm fine! And yes, I've got towels, thanks. I'll be out in a little while," she responded as she quickly put the necklace down, careful not to break it. Should she show it to her mother? Ask her what she thinks about keeping a piece of beautiful, obviously expensive jewelry given to her most likely on accident from someone she barely knew?

She chose not to.

"Well, all right, Hon, I'm going to bed. Your father is still out on business and won't be back for a few days so it's just us again tonight. Sleep well, Layla-bunny, don't stay up too late; you have school in the morning. Love you, sweetie."

"Don't worry, I'm going to sleep after my shower, it's been a long day and it's catching up with me," she chuckled. "Love you, too, Mom. 'Night." When Layla heard her mother's footsteps on the stairs she decided to get to her shower before the hot water ran out.

Half an hour later found her walking back into her room ready for bed, holding a towel up to her long hair in one hand and squeezing out the excess moisture. She wanted to get it as dry as possible before she attempted to lie down and sleep so she didn't soak her pillow.

In her other hand she held the delicate necklace. Sitting down on her bed, she turned it over in her hands and watched as the light from her lamp bounced pleasingly off of the gems. She still didn't know what to do with it, although she knew she couldn't in good conscious keep it.

Maybe it was a mistake.

Maybe it was a joke to see if she'd take it.

Maybe he knew giving it to her would drive her crazy and was laughing at her stupidity.

Maybe he'd had it lying around and thought it was a piece of junk and decided to give it to her since she was in his seat that morning in class and thought it would go perfectly with her skin and hair and eyes—Layla mentally slapped herself and shook her head, damp hair half-flying and half-sticking to her face.

Her thoughts got crazy sometimes. And she was a bit of a romantic.

Warren Peace was a stalker—_well, no not really; he's just being a bother_. Well… he was a stranger! There, that's it, and she was always taught not to accept things from strangers—_but, he seems familiar to me somehow, and, I don't know, I kinda know him now, what with him being around me all day…_

Well.

She closed her hand around the silver chain resolutely and took a deep breath as she made a decision.

She raised her hands and clasped the thin chain around her neck. It was hers for tonight. She would attempt to talk to the mysterious hotheaded boy tomorrow, but for tonight the gorgeous mix of rubies, emeralds, and crystals was hers.

And she would enjoy every minute of it; even as she dreamed, the beautiful object would still be with her.

Deciding her hair was dry enough to go to sleep without soaking her pillow, or risking sickness, she shut off her light and quickly drifted off. The cool weight of the necklace rested lightly against her skin.

* * *

_Warm… She felt warm and relaxed as the sun shone down on her upturned face. _Ah, _she thought,_ this is wonderful. It feels so nice out here!_ She continued to laze about on the sun-saturated grass until a rather large shadow appeared in front of her._

_Smiling, she opened her eyes to see her dark protector standing over her, arms crossed._

"_What do you think you are doing?" he glared._

"_I happen to be enjoying the excellent weather for once, good sir," she joked back. He raised an eyebrow. She sighed. "Oh, come on Warren, I'm not in any danger out here in the garden. You know I love it out here!"_

_Warren didn't move._

_She was determined to hold her ground so she sat up and shook her crimson hair out of her face and stared back, her brown eyes intense as they gazed into his. She was going to win this round!_

_At least, she would have if she hadn't started squirming restlessly as Warren continued to stand over her, unrelenting. Finally, the frustrated girl gave up. "Fine! I'm coming, I'm coming. But this isn't because you won or anything, I'm going because I'm finished out here," she huffed._

_Warren smirked in accomplishment, dark eyes sparking as he held out a hand to help her off the ground, which she accepted._

_Dusting herself off, she turned to face him and asked, "Was there anything else, or were you just sent to find me again?"_

_He rolled his eyes at that. She had a horrible tendency to run off at the most inopportune moments, forcing him to chase after her. He caught her every time though. That was why he was chosen, after all. He was the only one able to find her when she disappeared._

"_There's something else."_

"_Oh? What is it?"_

"_Here," he reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out something that sparkled and immediately caught her attention. "This is for you."_

_Layla gasped as he held out the most beautiful necklace she had ever seen. "This is beautiful! You didn't have to do this, I mean, you're my protector—my friend, though you like to deny it to high heaven. You don't have to give me jewelry to ensure your position," she laughed. "You're the only one who can keep up with me."_

_Warren shook his head. "I know that, and yeah, I know, that's why I took the job in the first place. Fuck if I know what you'd do without me; probably end up getting yourself in trouble all the damn time." She yelped indignantly. "But anyways, it isn't just a random necklace; it's got our powers in it." At her confused expression, he rolled his eyes and explained, "See the rubies and the emeralds?"_

_How could she not? They surrounded the front of the chain and came together to form a delicate rose in the center of the crystal. "Uh huh," she responded._

"_Rubies and emeralds—fire and nature—those represent me and you. I'll be able to be there when you need me. Just keep this close and don't lose it. Your father had it made."_

_That made her forget her question of _how _it was possible for him to know when she'd need him. Her father? She grinned wryly and rolled her eyes. Her father was so overprotective of her, it was a wonder he allowed a _man_ to watch over his daughter, even though Warren was the only one able, as she had mentioned earlier, to keep up with her. (She was truly a remarkable and friendly girl…she could just be a bit too much to handle sometimes for anyone unused to her…charming personality.)_

"_Uh huh, sure, War, you just wanted to give me something pretty. Just admit it to yourself and you'll be that much happier!" giggling to herself, she presented her back to her friend and held her long tresses out of the way._

_Taking the hint, Warren pulled the chain around her neck and clasped it for her, draping it gently against her skin. "Sure, Hippie, whatever you say. You know you want me," he chuckled as he stepped back to a decent distance, allowing the girl to turn around and swat him on the chest._

"_Don't call me that, Hothead! And oh yeah I want you—far away!"_

_He just laughed as he grabbed her arm and hauled her back in the direction he had come from. "Whatever you say, Hippie; whatever you say."_

* * *

At 6:45 the next morning Layla woke up to her alarm clock ringing in her ear feeling more rested than she had in days. If she'd had any dreams, she didn't remember any of them.

She yawned as she shut off the alarm and stretched her arms over her head as she sat up. She normally wasn't a morning person but this one wasn't so bad.

_Maybe it's because of my long shower last night,_ she thought to herself as she rubbed the sleep from her eyes and got out of bed. Long, hot showers always made her feel better.

After her morning bathroom rituals, she went to her closet and stood there trying to decide what to wear. She didn't much care what people thought about her as she rarely spoke to any of them other than her friends and whoever said a friendly word or two, but she did take a certain amount of pride in what she looked like each day. Just because she didn't care what others thought didn't mean she didn't care what _she_ thought.

Finally deciding on a pale green spaghetti-strapped sundress with a white sweater and sandals, and a cute, light brown headband in her hair, she made her way downstairs for a speedy breakfast after a glance at her bedside clock told her she was running slightly later than usual.

"Good morning, Mom! Any news from Dad?" Layla greeted as she grabbed a banana from the fruit bowl on the table and began to peel it.

Mrs. Williams turned her head to look at her energetic daughter from her place at the counter and smiled, her blue eyes crinkling cutely, causing Layla to easily imagine the young woman her mother used to be.

"Morning, sweetie, did you sleep well? And, no, I haven't heard anything yet but that's all right. We shouldn't expect anything for a couple more days."

Layla sighed and smiled understandingly. "All right, I just miss him," she said.

As she was taking the last few bites of her banana she looked at her cell phone and hurriedly finished her food and grabbed her backpack, rushing towards the door. "Gotta go! Love you, Mom, see you after school!" she called as she ran out of the kitchen.

"Honey, wait," Mrs. Williams called out to her as she followed. Seeing Layla waiting slightly impatiently by the front door, a "_yeah, Mom? I gotta go…_" message clear in her eyes. Giving her daughter a big hug, she said, "Layla-bunny, you look beautiful. Have a good day!"

Just before Mrs. Williams released her impatient daughter, something caught her eye. "Oh, honey, that's a gorgeous necklace. Where'd you get it? A secret admirer?" she teased as she went back into the kitchen, remembering that she had bills to take care of.

Layla stood there in shock as she grasped the chain against her throat. She had totally forgotten it was there, it was so light on her skin. Snapping out of her reverie, she gasped, "The bus!" and ran outside, making sure to close the door on her way out.

Making it to the stop before the bus caused the redhead to let out a sigh of relief as she caught her breath; she was afraid she'd missed it but the sight of other Sky High students reassured her. Sending a a smile to the ones who greeted her, she set to straightening her sweater and made sure her headband hadn't gone wonky. Feeling someone coming up behind her, she thought nothing of it…

Until they spoke.

"Why, Ms. Williams, don't you look lovely today. Dressing up for anybody in particular? Somebody… special, maybe?"

Layla groaned softly and rolled her eyes heavenward, praying for patience this early in the morning. "I'm going to take that compliment at face value and ignore the rest of what you said. So thank you, I do look nice today. I would like to say the same of you, but I don't feel like it," she intoned as she turned a bit to look at the bane of her existence.

Will just smirked as he looked her up and down. He couldn't help it: she may be a total bitch to him, as he was a bastard to her, but she had a nice little body on her and he was a red-blooded teenage male.

Leaning against the bus stop post the way she was with the sun shining down on her had her looking good. The sweater she was wearing was just shy of formfitting and wasn't shut so he could see how her dress fit snugly around her chest and stomach, and started flaring out at her hips. The wind was blowing the flowing material around her knees, bringing his attention to her long, smooth legs. His eyes followed them down to her sandal-clad feet and slowly made their way back up to her irritated and scowling face.

"My eyes are up here," she scowled.

He grinned impishly. "I know. Nice necklace, is it new?"

She scoffed in irritation and spun back around so she could try and regain her good mood. She would not let Will ruin her day just because he was bored, and there was no way she was telling him where she got her jewelry.

Soon, Layla could feel her irritation melting away as she waited for the bus to take her to school and her friends, and just under five minutes later, the bus arrived with Ron Wilson noisily greeted them all onto the bus and into their seats. "Here we go," he grinned.

Layla fell into an empty seat next to Zach and smiled at her friends. "Good morning, guys!"

Her friends grinned back at her and they exchanged meaningless chatter, partially ignoring the screaming of the young freshmen, until they landed with a jolt and a "Sorry!" from Ron.

In good spirits once again, Layla and the rest of the teens got off the bus in a clump and rushed off to their various meeting spots. Layla, Magenta, Zach, and Ethan walked off, talking and laughing and enjoying each others' company.

Will looked on as he watched the foursome walk off towards the stone benches where he'd noticed they liked to sit for a couple minutes before he wandered off into the building.

At the benches, Zach looked at his watch and said, "I so don't want to be here today! We got about twenty minutes before school starts and I already want to go home and get some more sleep."

Magenta laughed. "What, didn't get enough sleep last night? I don't know about you guys, but I passed out when I got home."

Ethan and Zach looked sheepish as they glanced at each other and then at random points in the distance and admitted that they had had a 'guy's night' at Ethan's house and had stayed up late playing video games until way past two in the morning.

Layla giggled as Magenta shook her head and slapped the guys on their backs, making them stumble a bit and said, "Boys, boys, boys… When will you learn that playing later does not mean you start playing better?" At their unison indignant "Hey!" she just laughed and pushed them forward so she could get off the stone bench she was on.

"Hey, Layls, let's go. These urchins are beneath us!" she said haughtily.

Layla stood up and said, "Let's, I don't want to spend time with such lousy gamers," in a snooty tone as she held out her arm for her friend to loop with. Walking off, noses in the air, they didn't make more than a few steps away before the guys ran up behind them and threw their arms heavily over the girls' shoulders, dragging them down until they couldn't move. Laughing, the girls shrugged off the limbs entrapping them and ran off to the school entrance where they waited a bit for the boys before separating off to their individual lockers.

"Oh wow, Layla, where'd you get that? That's some serious bling you got there," Magenta stated in surprise.

Layla looked down. "Thanks! It's beautiful, right? It was given to me by a…friend, but I'm going to return it. It's way too much for me to keep." If Magenta noticed her friend's slight hesitation before 'friend', she didn't mention it, for which Layla was grateful.

"Return it? Oh, please. Just keep it; if they went to the trouble of giving it to you, you may as well keep the dang thing. Besides, it's so pretty."

Layla just smiled and said she'd think about it, which satisfied Magenta enough to tell her friend she'd see her at lunch and run off to her locker with Zach, who had just shown up.

Ethan and Layla watched them walk off and shook their heads. "They are so in love with each other, " Ethan said.

Layla nodded her agreement. "Yes, they really are. But they are so stubborn! They refuse to say it!" she groaned. "Anyways, see you at lunch, Ethan, I've got to go to my locker." And with a hug she disappeared down the hall, intent on getting to her first class in time to get the seat beside the one she'd had the day before. She didn't really want a repeat of yesterday's class mishap.

Stopping at her locker to grab the things she needed for Mad Science only took a few minutes and soon she was headed off to her classroom, determination in her gaze.

She only hoped Warren was there and would take back his "gift". First, she had to see if he'd meant to give it to her; it's not like he'd said, "Here, this is for you," and draped it across her neck for her. She paused, confused, as she felt a sense of déjà vu. _Why did that sound familiar?_ A flash of a dream erupted behind her eyes and she saw two people standing before each other but she couldn't make out their features. It was gone as soon as it came and she promptly forgot all about it.

_Warren Peace, please be in that classroom!_

To her relief, he was, and he was also the only other person in the room. He was brooding in his seat, his original seat, reading a book and slouching deep into his chair.

Layla took a deep breath and set her shoulders before steeling her gaze with purpose and strode towards him.

* * *

Warren looked up as someone set their bag down on the desk directly next to his, and sat up once he saw who it was.

"Warren, I have to talk to you about something."

He put on a slight scowl for show and said, "Oh yeah? What's that, Hippie?"

Layla huffed. "I told you not to call me that, Hothead!" at the spark in his eyes, she knew she wouldn't win, so she decided to just ignore what he'd said and continue talking. "And it's about this, actually," she said as she touched her fingers to her throat.

His dark eyes widened slightly when he saw that she was pointing at the necklace he'd given her the day before.

_She's wearing it and wants to talk about it… Does this mean she remembers?_

That thought was immediately dashed when she opened her mouth. "I wanted to know if you meant to give it to me or if it was a mistake."

Warren just looked at her in slight disbelief. Did she really think he didn't mean to give it her? With a glance at her neck, he stared at her dismissively. "Looks good. Keep it."

The girl did nothing for a several moments, just watched him silently before reaching behind her neck to unclasp the hook. He stood up and grabbed her wrist, stopping her.

"No, I said it was yours. What do you think you're doing?"

"Are you insane? I can't keep this. You're obviously not understanding me. These things are real, don't try to lie to me, and I would feel terrible keeping it when it's obviously yours and we barely know each other. We don't even like each other!" she argued and tried to unlock his hand from her wrist.

"Hippie, calm down. That thing isn't mine, don't bother trying to give it back because I won't take it. I don't wear girly things like that, and you're a girl so you do, so don't get all twisted about it."

"But this must have cost so much! Wouldn't you rather give it to someone special?" _It wouldn't mean as much to anyone else._ "Like, like a girlfriend, or wife, or something?" she was grasping at straws now.

He looked at her incredulously. "A wife? Hippie, in case you haven't noticed, I'm eighteen and in high school. I don't have a wife in the cards just yet. And as for a girlfriend, nope, ain't got one of those either. And no, I won't 'wait until I find one and give it to her then,' so you can get that thought out of your head," he added when she opened her mouth to protest.

"Look, just keep it. Green's your thing, right?" and with that he let her go and sat down right as the others clambered into the classroom, talking loudly about the newest gossip around school. A couple people stopped and stared at the redhead because she was still standing over Warren, who was by now back to slouching in his chair with a book.

Noticing the stares leveled at her, she quickly sat down and pulled out her notebook, wrote something hastily on a piece of paper, and tossed it onto Warren's book. Then, flipping her hair over her shoulder, she settled down, got out her science book, and prepared to listen to Mr. Medulla as he droned on in a continuance of the day before.

_This isn't over, you know I can't keep this.  
We'll talk after class. And I'll find you if you try to run away!_

Without anyone noticing, Warren lit his finger up and burned the note, blowing the leftover ash away.

* * *

The rest of the day was filled with the same nonsense that had happened in first period: Layla would approach Warren and attempt to give back the necklace, and he would shut her down and leave her with no choice but to follow his example or risk causing a scene.

She was getting tired of trying to return his necklace. Plus, she was afraid people might start to wonder why she was following him around and that she had a new piece of "bling," as Magenta called it, around her neck, and why he would be involved with it.

She was paranoid sometimes, what can she say?

By the end of the day, she had finally given up. If he didn't want to take it back, then she wouldn't keep trying to throw it at him. Besides, it was really pretty…

Layla sighed as she made her way over to the bench and sat down to wait for her friends. It was a beautiful day outside, perfect weather for her outfit. She loved being able to wear dresses on perfect weather days. Closing her eyes, she took a deep breath through her nose, breathing in the scent of nature, then blew it out through her mouth.

Her eyes scrunched up when a shadow paused directly in front of her. "Hey guys, you're here early—" she cut herself off as she saw it was not her friends blocking her sunlight, but rather someone else.

"Can I help you with something, Lash?"

Lash looked down at her calmly, a suspicious gleam in his eyes in an otherwise friendly face. "Hello, Layla. I come in peace, don't worry; I just wanted to say something and I hope that you will listen."

She looked up at him warily, not knowing what was going on. Lash wasn't the kind of person to go from absolutely hating someone to showing them kindness in the space of a day. Something was up. "Okay..?"

He shifted to move closer and held out a hand. "I won't bite, promise." Still apprehensive, she hesitantly took it and he helped her stand up, diminishing the distance between them, which made her completely uncomfortable. Due to her mind being preoccupied, she didn't take much notice when her necklace began to heat itself up as her heart raced.

"Um, Lash, could you move back some? I'm not very comfortable right now," she asked lightly, trying to keep him in his seemingly good mood.

He pressed closer instead, his hot breath against her making her shiver despite the warmness of the day, "I think we're fine like this. Now, what I was saying." His voice began to take on a disturbing quality and her hand, which he had not let go of, was trapped between them making escape difficult.

"I—"

"Hey, man. You might want to let her go, now. I don't think she's liking whatever you're doing."

Nearly sighing in relief, Layla was granted freedom as Lash was wrenched away from her and shoved to the side.

"You okay, Hippie?" Warren asked as he stood between her and the now fuming super-stretcher.

"Y-yeah, I'm fine. He just said he needed to talk to me." Warren glanced back at Lash who sneered.

"Goddamn, what are you, her guard dog? I'll get back to you," he glared in her direction before walking off, trying to regain his cool exterior.

Shaking his head, Warren glanced back at Layla who was looking off in the direction Lash had gone. "Hey," he started, "you really okay?"

Dazedly, she looked up at him, trying to get her heart back under control. "Where did you come from?"

He blinked in surprise. _Crap._ He stuffed his hands into his jacket pockets. "What do you mean? I was going over to the buses and saw he was bothering you. You didn't seem too into it."

"But why did you help? You don't like me, and you don't exactly know my history with him, do you?" jumping, her eyes suddenly went wide, hand going to cover her mouth. "Oh, I'm sorry! You helped me out and instead of thanking you I go all Spanish Inquisition on you! Thank you. Really, I mean it," she said, looking up at him with shiny brown eyes.

He grinned a bit. "No problem. And you're right, I don't like anyone. But what can I say, you're kind of growing on me." She blushed and was about to say something else when he pointed over her shoulder. "Your friends are here."

Layla turned around, her hair flying behind her just as Ethan shouted out to her and waved with Zach and Magenta following him.

She smiled and waved back before turning back around. "Well—huh?" looking around showed her that Warren was walking away towards a bus as if they hadn't been in the middle of a conversation.

She shrugged and turned back to her friends who were just catching up to her.

Smiling, she decided not to tell them what had happened. They didn't need to know, nothing really happened, and she wasn't hurt. It would only worry her friends and she didn't want to do that, so she put on a happy face.

"Hey guys!"

"Hey girl. What were you and Warren talking about?"

"Oh, nothing, I just had to ask him a question about one of our classes..." Layla said before smoothly changing the subject.

In all the excitement as she and her friends made their way to their bus, Layla didn't notice that her necklace wasn't hot anymore.

* * *

**AN:** So I promised you guys an explanation. Honestly? I got tired. I got tired of everything and fell into a deep depressive slump that I'm still trying to get out of, to tell you the complete truth. I'd had part of the next chapter written and absolutely hated it, couldn't figure out why it was coming out so terribly, and got fed up with not knowing how I wanted it to go. Things happened, Real Life got in the way, huge amounts of drama ensued, jobs came and went, school got harder and harder. It's tough.

And something else: It's been approximately 4 years. My style has most likely changed, I've grown up, and things will probably be different than it used to be. I'm hoping that my story is still likeable and that I will retain my old readers and gain new ones as I endeavor to finish this story, though! (which is nowhere near completed, just an fyi) I even went back and re-watched the movie to get back into the feel of things, and let me tell ya, Steven Strait is a _fine_ male specimen. I would not mind meeting him ;)

One last thing: As my Author's Note chapter stated before I deleted it, unbeknownst to me, my story was stolen and used by another author who claimed it as hers and added on to it quite a significant amount. To anyone familiar with that story, no, this one will most definitely _not_ go in the same direction, unless she read my mind since I didn't bother reading any more than was necessary to confirm it was my story in a new wrapping and do something about it. It is no longer an issue, but it saddens and angers me that some people would steal and claim for themselves something that somebody else worked really hard on and put a lot of effort into. Not. Cool.

Anyways, before this note becomes another chapter in itself, as I mentioned above THANK YOU to all those who've supported me so far! I'm so happy you all enjoy my story! And now that I've started writing this again, hopefully the next update won't take so long (definitely not another 4 years, though, I promise!) but I can't say that it'll be super quick. I'm still in school and it's kicking my butt, but I will do my best!

**AN2**_: About the Actual Chapter:_ Sooo? What do y'all think? Good? Bad? Meh? Shoot me a review and let me know! I'm kinda worried because I've been gone so long, so I'll let you guys let me know how I did :) See you next time!

ttfn!

Faerie


	6. Important Notice

Hello All :)

Okay, so, I lied when I said that I would never give up on this story. Sorry. I thought I would have time for this—or at least force myself to make time for it—but apparently I was desperately wrong. Also, I no longer have any drive to finish it or write another chapter. I'm tired. I have no idea where I want it to go now, it's been years out of commission.

I have, sadly enough, grown apart from this story, and though I've tried to get back into it I just can't. I know some people out there do honestly enjoy it, and I feel bad for abandoning it, but I have a solution.

I have decided to put this story up for adoption. I would rather _not_ have somebody else write my story, but I actually want to see it completed, even if I'm not the one to complete it. I hate reading a story that hasn't been updated in forever and not knowing if the author is ever going to finish it, or reading a story and getting really into it and having the author abandon it without any closure at a REALLY bad time.

(And I'd rather it be this way than just having someone steal it and claim it on their own imagination.)

However, I DO have some provisos:

**Message me first**: Let me know who you are so I can get a feel for you and see how serious you are.

**Credit me as the original author**: If you use the chapters I already have verbatim or with only some minor changes, say you have adopted if from me. I don't want to be completely cut out of what I spent so long on. If you use my premise/chapters but completely redo the plot, that's fine, though I'd prefer if you used the same sort of thing I had going, but feel free to spruce it up and make it your own—AND MAKE SURE TO STILL CREDIT ME.

**Send me a link to it once you've got it updated**: I'd love to read what you've done with it! :) And I can put the link on my profile so the readers who visit me can check it out easier.

While I am still kinda sad to do this, I believe that is it.

So if you're interested, let me know!

ttfn!

Faerie


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